Students show a red ribbon during an event to raise awareness of AIDS at University of South China in Hengyang, central China's Hunan Province, Nov. 29, 2023. The World AIDS Day falls on Dec. 1. [Photo/Xinhua]

The HIV infection and mortality rates in China are low on a global scale, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

By the end of 2022, China had reported around 1.22 million individuals living with HIV/AIDS, with a cumulative death toll of 418,000 cases since the first case was reported in 1985 in the country, data from the CDC showed.

After years of efforts, China's prevention and control system for major infectious diseases such as AIDS has improved, and its capacity for disease containment enhanced, said Wang Hesheng, deputy head of the National Health Commission (NHC) and chief of the national administration of disease control and prevention.

The number of HIV screening laboratories and testing sites nationwide has expanded to over 50,000.

China has established a national HIV/AIDS treatment and drug supply system covering 2,517 counties. More than 90 percent of HIV carriers have received antiretroviral therapy, and more than 95 percent have achieved success in their treatment.

Substantial progress has been made in the containment of HIV/AIDS. In 2022, China's mother-to-child transmission rate of HIV declined to 3 percent.

The awareness of HIV prevention and control knowledge has also increased among key populations. The rapid rise of the HIV epidemic among young students has been basically curbed.

These accomplishments owe much to China's initiatives to contain HIV/AIDS.

Starting in 2004, China initiated support policies for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families, including the provision of medications and living assistance. In addition, orphans of deceased AIDS patients receive free education.

China has issued four five-year action plans aimed at curbing the spread of AIDS since 2000. In 2019, the NHC collaborated with nine other departments to develop the implementation plan for containing AIDS (2019-2022).

China's anti-HIV drugs, known for their low toxicity, efficacy and affordability, have essentially met the domestic demand for HIV/AIDS treatment, reducing mortality rates and easing the government's economic burden, said Li Taisheng, director of the AIDS treatment center of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

However, the aging of people living with HIV/AIDS, and the increase of drug resistance and complications in the patients have brought new challenges to China's endeavors to control the disease, Li noted.

There are still many people who are at high risk of HIV infection but reluctant to do virus testing due to social stigma and their own psychological pressure.

Medical workers and scholars have called for a more friendly social environment for HIV-infected people, more convenient screening for HIV and easier access to medical treatment, to control the spread of the virus.

Dec. 1 marks World AIDS Day. 

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