Seventy-six officials posted to AIDS-affected villages

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 19, 2004

Seventy-six officials posted to AIDS-affected villages

Seventy-six officials from Henan Provincial government, central China, will be stationed in villages which are seriously affected by the deadly AIDS (acquiredimmune deficiency syndrome) virus.

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Seventy-six officials from Henan Provincial government, central China, will be stationed in villages which are seriously affected by the deadly AIDS (acquiredimmune deficiency syndrome) virus.

The officials, dispatched by provincial government departments,such as the health and finance bureaus, will work in villages withhigh incidences of AIDS for one year to help improve AIDS prevention and treatment systems and to strengthen infrastructure construction.

They will supervise village authorities to offer free medicine for AIDS carriers, free and anonymous AIDS tests for villagers, free education for orphans of AIDS carriers and to take care elderly people who have lost children to AIDS.

The 76 officials will be divided into 38 pairs and posted on Feb. 18 after receiving AIDS prevention training.

Backgrounder: AIDS/HIV in China

China's fight against AIDS/HIV has lasted 19 years, since the first HIV infectious case in 1985.

The assessment report on China's AIDS prevention and control, released by Ministry of Health, shows HIV is an epidemic covering all the mainland's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. There are 840,000 HIV-carriers, of whom 80,000 suffer AIDS.

The majority of Chinese HIV carriers have been infected through blood transfusions. However, the ratio of sexual infections increased from 5.5 percent in 1997 to 10.9 percent in 2002, and more Chinese infants have been directly infected by their mothers.

Dai Zhicheng, vice-chairman of the China Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS Prevention and Control Association, says the number of HIV carriers has rapidly increased, and the virus has been epidemic not only among high-risk groups like drug abusers and sex workers, but also among normal people.

Experts warn that over 10 million Chinese will be HIV-positive in 2010, unless effective counter-measures are taken.

Gao Qiang, Vice-Minister of Health, raised five anti-HIV measures at the 58th UN General Assembly special session on AIDS last September.

The measures meant a larger range of government responsibility for AIDS prevention and control, including free treatment for the poor, the establishment of AIDS control centers, the legislation of AIDS-related laws and international cooperation.

In March last year, 22 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering jointly appealed that the society as a whole support and take part in China's AIDS prevention and control.

Source: Xinhua

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