Up to 90 per cent of gay men in Asia cannot access HIV care and advice, a United Nations-backed report has found.
The report, released today, said rates of the disease had reached alarming levels among gay men on the continent and repressive laws in many countries are making the situation worse.
It said: "Nineteen of 48 countries in the Asia Pacific region criminalise male-to-male sex, and these laws often take on the force of vigilantism, often leading to abuse and human rights violations.
"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."
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/05/17/un-report-finds-gay-men-in-asia-denied-hiv-care/