Even as AIDS related deaths have declined in Asia, the disease continues to claim lives throughout the region. According to UNAIDS report Myanmar stands fifth, Nepal stands at ninth and Bangladesh stands at tenth position in HIV deaths among Asian countries. India tops the list with 62,000 deaths.
Myanmar lost 7,800 people, Nepal 1,700 and Bangladesh lost around 1,000 people in 2016 due to AIDS, says the report.
In 2016, there were estimated 170,000 AIDS-related fatalities in the Asia Pacific region, down from 240,000 in 2010.
According to the UNAIDS report 2017, an estimated 5.1 million in the Asia Pacific region are living with HIV while only 2.4 million have access to treatment. Since data on China is not available.
India remains the country with the third largest population of people with HIV after South Africa and Nigeria.
In China, the number of people affected by HIV has been estimated at between 430,000 and 1.5 million. However, there is no data available in the report about people who died of AIDS-related illnesses.
Indonesia lost 38,000 in 2016 to due to the disease. While the new HIV infections saw a decrease, the country has seen an increase in the number of AIDS related deaths.
Thailand has the third highest AIDS related death rate in Asia. With 16,000 people dying due to the disease in 2016, the country launched a new national strategy in 2017 to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2023.
With fourth highest death rate in Asia, 8,000 people died in Vietnam in 2016 due to the disease. The country has seen a steady decline in the number of new infections as well as deaths.
There has been a slight increase in the number of new infections as well as number of deaths in Bangladesh due to the disease. However, overall Bangladesh remains low HIV-prevalence country.
According to the report overall there has been a 39 per cent reduction in AIDS related deaths in the Asia Pacific region.