Yunnan declares last-ditch war against AIDS

Home>>China

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 23, 2004

Yunnan declares last-ditch war against AIDS

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Yunnan Province in southwest China has decided to provide condoms in hotel rooms with the other toiletries like toothpaste, as part of its effort to control the spread of AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The province has also inked the decision into a local law on AIDS prevention, the first provincial one of its kind in the country which is to come into effect later this year.

Promoting the use of condoms among its AIDS-vulnerable population, mainly prostitutes and drug users, is on the top agenda of this year's AIDS prevention campaign in the province, which has realized the danger posed by the epidemic.

By September 2003, statistics showed the province with a population of over 42 million reported 13,948 HIV positive cases and 841 AIDS patients, the largest number in the country.

To make it worse, HIV infection is spreading from separate border areas connecting southeast Asian nations to 16 cities and prefectures across the province, said Lu Lin, director of the province's disease prevention and control center.

"It indicates a very dangerous trend," Lu said.

It is estimated that by 2005 the province will see 100,000 HIV cases.

China reportedly had 840,000 HIV carriers by the end of 2003.

Sharing injection needles between drug users was blamed as the first means HIV transmission in the country.

A neighbor of the Golden Triangle, a drug production area between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, Yunnan, a province with over 4,000 kilometers of border line, easily falls victim to drug dealingand AIDS, Lu said.

What's more, statistics showed sex is becoming another major transmission mode of HIV/AIDS in the country.

Lu said that there is little time left for the province in the battle against the deadly epidemic.

"Only when these special groups of people are adopting preventive measures, can the epidemic be constrained from spreading to more," said Lu, noting that the province is at a critical moment in its fight against AIDS.

Condoms will be available, either for free or at a low price, in hotels and entertainment venues like night clubs, places commonly regarded as hotbed of prostitution in the country.

Zhang, the provincial official in charge of AIDS prevention, said that the provincial government will cover the expense for thesupply of condoms to HIV carriers and hotel owners will be encouraged to share the financial burden of providing condoms to their guests.

Besides, disposable needles are promoted among drug users in the province. Drug users will not be taken away for forced treatment when getting disposable needles at registered places.

Such promotions, said Lu, do not mean acquiescence of prostitution and drug abuse.

"On the contrary," Lin said, "A major task we face in AIDS prevention is to crack down on these illegal practices."

At present, however, when prostitution and drugs cannot yet be uprooted in society, it is a sensible alternative to promote the use of condoms and disposable needles among these at-risk groups, Lu said.

"We hope these measures can see their effect in three to five years," Lu said.

However, officials and experts are well aware of their difficulties in the battle against AIDS.

In sharp contrast to the increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases, which is expected to hit 100,000 by 2005, the province currently only has 30 specialists in HIV/AIDS treatment.

Also, the expense of the treatment, at least 40,000 yuan (over 4,800 US dollars) a year for each sufferer, means a heavy burden to the province, which still has a lot of poverty-stricken areas.

It is the Chinese government's commitment to provide free medical treatment and subsistence relief to HIV carriers and AIDS sufferers.

"When we strive to give more care to those unlucky people, we need an effective mechanism. Otherwise, what we say would become averbal promise," said Zhang Chang'an.

The province will invest 140 million yuan (about 16.9 million US dollars) in 2004 to establish a provincial AIDS care center, Zhang said. It also vows to set up a network of AIDS prevention and treatment which is expected to cover all its counties.

Admitting that AIDS is a tough problem for the province to address, Xu Rongkai, governor of Yunnan, said in January that the provincial government and officials must learn to face the music.

"Facing the challenge from AIDS, we should take the safety and security of the people into our hearts," said the governor when speaking at a meeting of the provincial government earlier this year.

Last year, the provincial health department began to report thesituation of AIDS regularly to society. "We're willing to cooperate with media on the problem of AIDS prevention, including publicizing the AIDS situation in the province," Zhang said.

"We don't want to hide this problem from the public, or even todeny it," Zhang said. "What is more terrifying than the deadly epidemic itself is authorities' intentional cover-up and the public's ignorance."

"What we are doing and planning to do, including the promotion of the use of condoms in hotels, is aimed at making people informed of the preventive measures against the disease. Only whenall people know about the measures, can we do good work in AIDS prevention and control."

The provincial government has decided to make local officials' efforts in AIDS prevention a required assessment factor when evaluating their work.

Sociologist Tong Jiyu with the provincial academy of social sciences said that the incorporation of AIDS prevention into a government's strategy and official evaluation system indicates itsresponsible attitude towards its people.

Source:Xinhua

Questions?Comments? Click here

China to participate in global plan to fight HIV/AIDS

Australia commits 25 million dollars to global AIDS fund

Centre to monitor AIDS public policy

Chinese language losing popularity in Singapore ( 5 Messages)

Chinese students studying in US express concern over Taiwan issue in letter to Powell ( 6 Messages)

Bin Laden cornered in Pakistan's northwest ( 2 Messages)

China suspends crude oil exports to Japan ( 4 Messages)

When will the Immolation between the Jews and the Arabs Come to an End? ( 2 Messages)