The likely cause of the increased rates of HIV/AIDS is the lack of______.

Delegates to a meeting of 24 Asia-Pacific countries in Bangkok cited progress in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
    The UN program on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, says epidemics in the region appear stable. From 2001 to 2009 infection rates in India, Nepal and Thailand fell by more than 25 percent, while rates in Bangladesh and the Philippines increased by more than 25 percent.
    One challenge is the lack of access to often expensive anti-retroviral treatments.
    The regional director for the UN Children’s Fund in East Asia and the Pacific, Anupama Rao Singh, says only 30 percent of adults and 44 percent of children who need the treatments are able to get them.
    Singh says Asian heads of state need to better support HIV/AIDS programs.
    The Asia-Pacific region is home to an estimated five million HIV-infected people, the second highest number in the world, after Sub-Saharan Africa.