An "explosion" in the use of mobile phone dating apps has helped drive a surge in HIV infections among teenage boys and young men in Asia, according to a new United Nations report.
Researchers from UN agencies identified a "hidden epidemic" of HIV among adolescents aged 15-19 in the Asia-Pacific region. Although HIV infections are falling overall across the region, they are soaring among young males in the most at-risk populations.
In the report, the experts estimated that 50,000 (or 15 per cent) of the new 340,000 HIV infections in the region involved males in their late teens. They said that among the factors contributing to the increase in casual unsafe sex among adolescents in the region is the popularity of mobile dating apps.
"The explosion of smart phone gay dating apps has expanded the options for casual spontaneous sex as never before," said the authors of Adolescents: Under the Radar in the Asia-Pacific Aids Response.
Wing-Sie Cheng, HIV/Aids adviser for Unicef in east Asia and the Pacific, said that the smartphone apps were "definitely enabling" an increase in risky behaviour, such as multiple sexual partners and inconsistent condom use.
