Lao PDR's currently faces a concentrated epidemic with an adult HIV prevalence of 0.1 percent. The low HIV prevalence does not necessarily indicate low risk. Moreover, the HIV-prevalence rate is increasing. Because of its geographical location in the heart of the Mekong region, injecting drug use, and unsafe sexual practices, Lao PDR is in danger of an expanded epidemic. Nearly 5 percent of injecting drug users (IDUs) were found to be HIV-positive in 2005. Although only 0 to 1.1 percent of sex workers were HIV-infected in 2000, a 2004 survey of the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among service women found that chlamydia/gonorrhea prevalence was 45 percent in the capital Vientiane, 43.6 percent in the border province of Bokeo, and 27.9 percent in the southern province of Champasak, indicating the vulnerability of these women to HIV. Lao PDR is undergoing rapid socioeconomic changes, including increased international tourism, leading to sexual behaviors that may place some Laotians at increased risk for HIV infection. For instance, a report cited by UNAIDS found increasing sexual activity among young men in Vientiane in 2004, nearly 60 percent of whom reported having multiple partners in the first six months of the year and more than one-third of whom reported paying for sex. Many of Lao PDR’s men who have sex with men (MSM) also report having sex with women. Women are considered to be particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because of their low literacy, education and health status. Women whose husbands have multiple sex partners and visit sex workers are particularly vulnerable. Compounding Lao PDR's vulnerability to an expanding HIV epidemic is a low level of knowledge about the disease among the general population. According to one study reported in the World Bank-sponsored Lao PDR Gender Profile, 23 percent of respondents did not know that HIV was transmissible by blood, and more than half did not know that it could be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Implementing programs to increase knowledge and awareness is difficult in Lao PDR because the country is home to 47 different ethnic groups with multiple native languages and a variety of cultures. According to the World Health Organization, Lao PDR had 69 new tuberculosis (TB) cases per 100,000 people in 2005, one of the highest incidence rates in the region. Although HIV-TB co-infection is relatively low, with only 0.7 percent of new TB cases occurring among HIV-infected individuals, the country is in danger of a combined epidemic. HIV-TB co-infection poses a challenge to providing treatment and care for both diseases.
HIV/AIDS in Laos
HIV/AIDS in Vietnam
HIV/AIDS in North America
HIV-tainted blood scandal 
HIV/AIDS in Europe
HIV/AIDS in Asia
HIV/AIDS in Africa
HIV/AIDS in East Timor