SCOURGE SCARE

With the AIDS scourge assuming gigantic
proportions in the South Asian countries, senior officials
of the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation ~et at a four-day
workshop recently In Kathmandu,
Nepal, to devise meaDs to tackle the rampantly spreading disease. The statemenf
released at the end of the conference
spoke of an urgent need "to have a political commitment at the highest level." The World Health
Organization estimates that by the turn of the century,
more new HIV infections will occur in South Asia, home
to one-fifth of the world's population.