While Hong Kong hasn’t historically been a main area of concern for global Aids activists, studies from the Department of Health show that the local infection rate is rising. It’s been up 5.32 percent in the first six months this year with 242 new cases, especially among gay men, with the total number of reported cases since 1984 up to 4,788. Winnie Ho, program director at Hong Kong’s Aids Concern, stresses the urgency of the situation. “It used to be a scattered epidemic,” she says. “There was never the sense that it was spreading quickly.”
While there is no doubt that the disease has been making dangerous headway throughout the region, a continued lack of definitive research about the trend has caused a delayed reaction by the government and the general public. Ho, who commends the improving government response, bemoans the lack of political commitment to the issue in the past. “The government tends to only react when they see a big problem,” she says. That said, denial of one’s own vulnerability to the disease is equally dangerous, as symptoms often don’t show for years. Ho says that the number of local people who are unknowingly infected could be in the thousands. HIV, which weakens the body’s immune system until an additional infection causes the virus to advance into its final stage as Aids, often launches its attack so gradually that without testing it can go undetected for up to 10 years.
So what lies behind the increasing number of local cases? Studies have shown that in Hong Kong, men make up about 80 percent of reported cases. And while the majority of men who suffer from the disease would identify themselves as homosexual, Aids advocates categorize cases by sexual behavior, not sexual identity (therefore the term MSM, males who have sex with males, is preferred). Casual hookups, now more common through the internet, may be another factor. And due to the local sex industry and the recent interflow of clients visiting prostitutes between Hong Kong and China, the disease is quickly growing among the heterosexual population as well.
But simply practicing safe sex is not always as easy as it sounds. “We activists can’t just tell people to just use a condom or get tested. People don’t like talking about the implications of Aids and would rather go on not thinking about it,” explains Ho. And because of the stigma attached to Aids, a lot of community support services go unused. Wong also adds that alcohol and increasingly available party drugs inhibit even knowledgeable people from making wise decisions. And while oftentimes the automatic response to health issues is to raise awareness, Ho stresses the importance of addressing behavior and promoting overall sexual health. As she puts it, “Knowledge does not translate into behavior. If we only focus on educating people, we’re bound to fail.”
Where to Get Tested
Aids Concern, 8203-3772, www.aidsconcern.org.hk.
Department of Health’s Aids Unit, 2780-2211, www.info.gov.hk/aids.
Hong Kong Aids Foundation in Central offers the Man-d Rapid Test solely for gay men. Their center in Shau Kei Wan also provides testing for everyone, 2513-0513, www.aids.org.hk.