introduction

Of all the global regions that have dire consequences in their future, Eastern Asia and the Pacific Realm, primarily comprised of China, Japan and Papa New Guinea, looks as one whose implications could have an utterly catastrophic effect worldwide. In 2003, UNAIDS approximated that anywhere from 1.2 million to 2 million people in China, alone are infected with HIV and that the total number for the whole region could swell to upwards of 15 million by the year 2010. Such a number, while such a small percentage of the total population of the region would devastate economic progress in a number of areas, crippling those economies, and causing a domino like collapse of adjacent, and dependant areas. Julie Gerberding of the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention said," if we don't intervene in those environments, we will have a catastrophe of a very, very profound increase in the number of cases." In Japan, UNAIDS estimates that anywhere from 12,000 to 19,000 adults and children are infected and in Papa New Guinea the destruction is rampant. There is an annual increase of fifteen to thirty percent in numbers infected and over 4,500 people are living with the virus. Economists state that if this trend continues, measures of economic welfare will drop by 48% by 2020, and the labor force will shrink by 38%.

analysis:introduction

global | australia and new zealand | caribbean | east asia and pacific | e.europe and central asia | latin america | middle east and north africa | north america | south and south east asia | sub-saharan africa |
western europe