(Reuters) - HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men has hit alarming levels in Asia and most of them do not have access to services and care due to punitive laws which drive them underground, a U.N.-backed report said on Monday.

The situation may worsen if countries fail to reverse laws that criminalize sex between adult males and cross-dressing, and selectively prosecute gay and bisexual men using public order and prostitution offences, it added.

"Nineteen of 48 countries in the Asia Pacific region criminalize male-to-male sex, and these laws often take on the force of vigilantism, often leading to abuse and human rights violations," according to the report.

"Even where there are no specific offences for male-to-male sex, MSM (men who have sex with men) and transgender people are subject to police abuses and are targeted by police for other offences relating to public order, vagrancy, prostitution and obscenity."

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