Half of all new HIV/AIDS infections have been reported among young people between 10-24 years, most of them women, warns UNAIDS. In Nepal, the infection is no longer a problem confined to a handful of drug addicts and prostitutes, and as numbers show, it could be creeping into populations once thought to be safe. UNAIDS says that the larger population is vulnerable to a rapid spread of the epidemic.

HIV/AIDS prevalence among Nepali drug addicts and sex workers is also growing fast. According to UNAIDS, prevalence among sex workers in Kathmandu is up from 2.7 percent in 1996 to 17.3 percent in 1999, and from 1 percent in 1993 to roughly 50 percent in 1999 among injecting drug users. The World Health Organisation and UNAIDS estimates that 34,000 Nepalis have HIV/AIDS, and that 140 people have died of HIV/AIDS so far.