AIDS ‘Catastrophe’ in Asia Feared by Health Official

WASHINGTON — The impending spread of AIDS to the populous nations of Asia poses the potential for a “major catastrophe,” the head of the World Health Organization said today.

Dr. Halfdan Mahler, director-general of the organization, told a news conference that within the last year “we have had a doubling of the number of countries reporting AIDS.”

He noted that of 52,064 cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome from 116 countries reported to the Geneva-based arm of the United Nations, so far only 151 cases have come from Asia.

‘Powder Keg of Asia’

However, he warned, “if you allow AIDS to get into the powder keg of Asia, then we really are going to have a problem.”

The World Health Organization has been active in assisting Third World countries in the development of anti-AIDS programs, particularly in Africa, where--unlike the United States and Europe--the fatal disease is spread mainly through heterosexual contact.

Mahler said Asian countries, including India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, appeared to be particularly vulnerable.

“I fear that once AIDS is getting in there, with their weak health infrastructures . . . you have a potential for a major catastrophe. I really am afraid of that,” he told reporters.

Control in China

Mahler noted that in China, by contrast with most of Asia, “you have a very great social structure, social control.”

“But even there they are very, very concerned now to build up very rapidly a kind of surveillance structure” to detect and deal with AIDS, he said.

Mahler said it is a top priority of his organization to help Asian nations “to build up the proper kind of national strategy for preventing the infiltration of AIDS into their country.”

“I still think there is time for WHO to help them to build up a very aggressive barricade against the uninhibited spread of the problem,” he said.

News Media Praised

Mahler, who is from Denmark, praised the news media for exercising “social responsibility” in reporting on the AIDS epidemic.

However, he expressed concern that in coming years, once AIDS has lost its novelty as an issue, the media will develop “battle fatigue” and may “leave us in the lurch,” particularly in dealing with the fight against the disease in Third World countries.

Mahler is expected to sign an agreement Thursday with the U.S. Agency for International Development providing $5 million for the anti-AIDS effort.

But he complained that this gesture by the United States contrasts sharply with Washington’s reluctance to pay its full share to support the World Health Organization’s worldwide activities.