HIV/AIDS in China a major cause for concern

Despite the announcement by China that it has dropped its estimate of the number of HIV/AIDS victims in the country by nearly 30 percent, world health experts are warning against complacency, and are saying the HIV/AIDS numbers are in fact still rising and many people are unaware of the dangers.

In China last year health experts say as many as 200 people a day became infected with HIV, and the disease was now moving from high-risk groups like sex workers and intravenous drug users into the general population.

A 2003 projection that 840,000, would be living with HIV/AIDS has now been amended to 650,000, according to figures released jointly by China's Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, who say the original figures were too high.

The joint statement also said that in parts of Henan and the far-western border provinces of Yunnan and Xinjiang, the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women exceeded 1 percent.

Health experts say there were also roughly around 70,000 new HIV infections in 2005, which is 10,000 more than in 2003.

Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organisation's representative in China, has said there is no room for complacency and there is no time to waste, as without doubt, China's AIDS epidemic is growing.

Bekedam says public awareness of HIV/AIDS in China is still far too low, and awareness campaigns must be stepped up quickly and significantly across the country.

At present in China political sensitivity and social stigma still surround AIDS, and the initial reluctance on the part of government to acknowledge the epidemic has without doubt contributed to its spread.

This was particularly the case in Henan province, where in the 1990s millions sold blood to unsanitary clinics.

But reports still abound of infected blood donors spreading the virus.

A recent case in the northeast province of Liaoning, involved 23 people who were infected before the donor was diagnosed with the disease.

Ministry of Health regulations, about to take effect in March, will make collection centres responsible for the safety of blood and ban sales of donated blood to try to stop such incidents.

According to Joel Rehnstrom, China country coordinator for UNAIDS, though improved data collection abilities contributed to the lower estimate and they now have a better picture of the situation in China, it does not mean that it is improving.

Rehnstrom maintains that the epidemic is possibly more serious than previously thought throughout China.

A warning by the UN says that China could have 10 million cases of HIV by 2010 unless it takes steps to educate the public and fight the epidemic.

Health experts also warn that China's increasingly mobile population faces a broader risk as more infections occur through drug injection and sexual contact.