A senior government official said China currently has 840,000
HIV carriers and 80,000 AIDS patients.
Gao Qiang, China's executive deputy minister of health, made the
remark at an international economic forum Thursday, saying
that the statistics were from a joint epidemiological survey
conducted by China, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS.
He said many AIDS organizations at home and abroad are using
"accumulative data", not differentiating clearly HIV carriers, AIDS
patients and deducting dead AIDS sufferers from the total
number.
That's why the official figure is lower than many estimates, Gao
explained.
He also said China is planning to offer free treatment to HIV
carriers and AIDS patients in the country's rural areas and urban
AIDS-infected population who are in financial difficulties.
About 5,000 HIV carriers and AIDS patients in poverty would
receive free treatment this year and the free treatment would be
available for all poor HIV carriers and AIDS patients next year,
the executive deputy minister announced.
Gao said that HIV/AIDS is a common enemy of mankind and the
Chinese government has attached great importance to prevention and
treatment and treated it as a strategic issue for social stability,
economic development, national prosperity and security.
HIV/AIDS in China has not been controlled and prevention and
treatment in China is still faced with arduous tasks, Gao said.
Chinese central and local governments have allocated 6.8 billion
yuan (US$850 million) to establish and improve the disease
prevention and control mechanism in the provinces. Each year more
than 200 million yuan (US$24 million) is spent as a special fund
for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment.
Central and local governments would also invest 2.25 billion
yuan (US$272 million) mainly to strengthen the blood testing
stations in the middle and western regions, Gao said.
He said China would protect the legitimate rights of HIV/AIDS
patients and oppose social discrimination.
In all 124 counties where comprehensive prevention and treatment
demonstration zones were established, integrated measures including
antiviral treatment, care and life assistance will be adopted, Gao
added.
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2003)