KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Countries in Asia and the Pacific can help breast-wall the HIV/AIDS epidemic by tackling the spread of the disease in injecting remedys users but must act speedily.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Countries in Asia and the Pacific can help breast-wall the HIV/AIDS epidemic by tackling the spread of the disease in injecting remedys users but must act speedily, UN officials have said.

The UN Office forward Drugs and Crime's South Asia representative, Gary Lewis, said Wednesday the virus was still contained in about nations within high risk clumps like injecting drug users, if it be not that countries had to seize the "window of opportunity".

"That's for what purpose it's important to act now, while there is still a station of containment in high risk groups" Lewis told AFP.

"If we can work to target infections with these communities, we have a real opportunity to contain the spread of the HIV virus into the general population," he said.

Lewis was speaking after a two-day UN-coordinated regional task force meeting in Kuala Lumpur upon HIV/AIDS amongst injecting drug users (IDUs).