Sino-British HIV/AIDS Project Launched in Beijing

China and Britain will jointly implement an AIDS program in two Chinese provinces with an aim to create a model of disease prevention, treatment and care for people vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

Although the China-UK HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project will mainly focus on the five-year try-out work in Yunnan and Sichuan, two AIDS-stricken provinces in southwest China, the goal is to create an effective national response to HIV/AIDS and to develop the national policy framework, according to Wang Longde, Vice- Minister of Health.

Official statistics of confirmed HIV infections in China were 18,143 at the end of March this year. But experts projected that HIV/AIDS, emerging as a serious epidemic in China, the world's most populous country, has affected at least 500,000 Chinese so far.

Wang said at today's launching ceremony that the STD, a key risky factor of the AIDS epidemic, also has became rampant. "Real figure of STD cases may five or even ten times the confirmed 836,600 cases in 1999," he said.

According to a Sino-British protocol signed on March, Britain's Department for International Development will provide 15.3 million pounds (22.95 million U.S. dollars) grant to China, making it the biggest donation to China's anti-AIDS efforts.

"Given the fact that most carriers do not know they are infected and so unintentionally may inject others, effective interventions are needed now to stem this. We hope that the project will make a significant contribution," Nigel Cox, the Minister of the British Embassy in Beijing, said at the ceremony.

He noted that the project would be promoting condom use through educational campaigns and innovative methods, and would help relevant authorities track the disease more accurately by improving surveillance systems.

"The project aims to reduce the public stigma attached to the disease, and to make more people aware of the need for adequate public spending on treatment and prophylaxis against opportunistic infections commonly associated with AIDS," he added.



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