A senior UN official predicted Tuesday South Asia may overtake sub-Saharan Africa as the worst HIV/AIDS’s affected region in the world if immediate preventive and remedial measures are not adopted.

“It will happen today. It does not need to happen. It depends on what is done today,” Nafis Sadiq, Special Envoy of UN Secretary General on HIV/AIDS told reporters in reply to a question whether South Asia was about to overtake South Africa where 29 million HIV/AIDS cases have been reported.

South Asia, one of the most populous regions of the world, has four million confirmed AIDS cases so far. “But the velocity in South Asia is double of South Africa,” she warned Tuesday. The infection and disease has tipped in South Asia, UN officials said.

“Leadership is needed to combat the disease. It’s not only in the health sector. Society has to be mobilized and action has to be taken with the full participation of young people to stop the pandemic,” UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said.

“Infection rate in South Asia is sill very low with high concentrations in pockets.The region has an excellent opportunity to stop the spread,” said Peter Poit, Executive Director of UNAIDS. There is a high concentration of the killer disease in Kathmandu.

“AIDS problem is worse than terrorism. Governments in the region should set aside the maximum budget to fight the disease in the region,’ said S. Pokhrel, speaking on behalf of the youth of South Asia.

A two-day regional conference that ends later Tuesday will adopt a Kathmandu Declaration outlining strageties to fight the disease in the area.