The United Nations says discriminatory laws and human rights violations against homosexual men in Asia limit access to health care services and contribute to rising HIV infection rates.

At the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, the U.N. Development Program and the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health presented a study that linked the criminalization of homosexual behavior to an increase in the infection rate of HIV and AIDS in Asia.  The study says 19 Asian countries still criminalize men who have sex with men and the prevalence of HIV in these groups has reached alarming levels.

More likely to contract HIV

According to UNAIDS, in China, homosexual men are 45 times more likely to contract HIV than the average Chinese person.  And the report says more than 90 percent of homosexual men in the Asia-Pacific region do not have access to HIV prevention and care.

The report points to a range of laws, such as public order and vagrancy offenses, that are selectively enforced against men who have sex with men and transgender people in many countries of the region.

And some homosexual men and transgenders feel uncomfortable accessing health services because they fear being reported to authorities said UNDP HIV policy specialist Edmund Settle.

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