Central China province pledges vigorous assistance to AIDS patients

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Central China province pledges vigorous assistance to AIDS patients

The government of central China's Henan province has pledged to improve the living conditions of its AIDS patients as soon as possible.

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The government of central China's Henan province has pledged to improve the living conditions of its AIDS patients as soon as possible.

Government officials said that a group of 76 officials from Henan province went last month for a one-year mission to help improve AIDS control and treatment work in the most seriously affected villages.

They will team up with local officials to fan out into the 38 most affected villages in the province -- including Wenlou villageof Shangcai county, which has AIDS patients in nearly every household and has hit the headlines of worldwide media in recent years.

These officials are expected to supervise village authorities to offer free medical treatment to AIDS patients, free and anonymous HIV/AIDS tests, free education for orphans of AIDS patients and to take care of the elderly who have lost children toAIDS.

They would also help the villagers build basic infrastructure, including a paved road, a well, a school, a clinic and an orphanage and a home for the elderly in each village. The provincial government has earmarked over 30 million yuan (3.6 million US dollars) to finance building of the facilities.

So far, 4,352 AIDS patients in Henan have received free medicaltreatment.

Henan, China's most populous and a largely agricultural province, reported a population of nearly 93 million at the 2000 national census. It became the site of one of the country's worst AIDS outbreaks when a large number of farmers were infected after selling blood to illegal dealers and having HIV-infected blood pumped back into them, before 1995.

Official statistics show 11,844 people have been confirmed HIV-positive in the province and 5,499 have contracted AIDS. China currently has about 840,000 HIV-positive people, and some 80,000 AIDS patients, according to the Ministry of Health.

Source: Xinhua

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