Another World AIDS Day falls Saturday and there is both good and bad news in China as it is fighting the battle against HIV/AIDS.

The good news: 16 years after the disease was discovered in China, the whole society is more tolerant and compassionate to HIV/AIDS sufferers, and open discussions about discrimination appear in newspapers.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck has just announced to cut the price of two anti-AIDS drugs sold to China, which will enable more Chinese patients to prolong their lives.

The bad news: Chinese Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said China may have 10 million carriers of HIV, the AIDS virus, by the year 2010 if the current 30 percent annual growth rate is not slowed down.

Researchers also warn of heavy economic and social losses if the country fails to curb the AIDS epidemic.

Society More Tolerant, Compassionate

On the eve of World AIDS Day, Minister Zhang visited an AIDS clinic in Beijing, shaking hands with patients and calling on the public to give more care and compassion to those infected.

"We need to stand together to fight AIDS," he said.

About 1,600 people in bright yellow jackets braved the chilly wind Saturday morning to take part in a marathon in downtown Beijing -- one of the national activities to mark the international event.

Before the joggers set off, actor Pu Cunxin, popular movie star, encouraged the crowd to shout this year's AIDS Day slogan "I care, do you?"

Pu is China's first "image ambassador" for the health ministry and uses his good nature to persuade the people not to discriminate. "AIDS patients are victims. They need your care and help," he said.

Pamphlets, posters and flyers containing key messages of AIDS prevention were handed out and willingly accepted in Harbin city in northeast China. "People take one and read it," a woman worker said.

Media Mobilized to Educate Public

News about HIV/AIDS hits the front pages of most major Chinese newspapers nowadays, and television networks broadcast prime-time programs to talk about AIDS.

"Be vigilant and take care of others," read a headline of a China Youth Daily story, accompanied by a photograph of an eight-year-old girl with HIV having a blood transfusion.

The English-language newspaper China Daily also ran front-page a photograph of doctors and nurses at a Beijing hospital, with three AIDS patients.

"I think Chinese media organizations have made a lot of progress in terms of the coverage of the disease," says Sun Gang, an UNAIDS official in Beijing.

China Central Television, or CCTV, devoted its prime time Saturday night to a videotaped show entitled "Fluttering Red Ribbon," which was staged two weeks ago as a tribute to the country's first national AIDS conference.

"We want to deliver the message of compassion and understanding to the audience," said Li Ying of the Chinese Institute of Health Education, the event organizer.

About 100 million viewers across China are expected to watch the two-hour program, according to a CCTV worker.

"Journalists can save more lives than doctors because they can educate the public," Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), told the press when he visited China two weeks ago.

Cheaper Drugs Available

Merck Sharp & Dohme (China) Ltd., a Shanghai-based pharmaceutical company under Merck & Co., has announced it will cut factory prices of two AIDS drugs, Crixivan and Stocrin, by one third in China from this month.

A year's treatment using the two protease inhibitor drugs will cost each user 1,949 U.S. dollars, without the addition of import tariffs, value-added tax and other costs such as distribution, the company says.

Three big Western companies, namely Merck, GlaxoSmith Kline and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., have been allowed by China's drug administration to sell their AIDS drugs.

Similar products from BoehringerIngelheim and Abott Laboratories have also been approved to enter China.

Shen Jie, director of the Health Ministry's Center for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, said her center has held talks with the companies for a long time.

"We've tried, and had positive response from them," she said.

Heavy Loss Possible

Still, China is facing an increasing danger of a HIV/AIDS epidemic due to widespread drug use and prostitution, both Chinese and international health experts warn.

China needs to spend more money and effort in HIV/AIDS prevention and control otherwise it will suffer heavy economic losses due to a widespread epidemic, says researcher Yuan Jianhua.

Yuan is leading a study of the potential impact of an HIV/AIDS epidemic on China's social and economic development. He hopes the results will be published early next year and will ring alarms to policy makers and the general public.

The spread of AIDS will lead to not only increase in medical fees, expenditure on preventive campaigns and the cost of labor loss, but also slowdown of the national economy, he said.

"What has happened in many African countries has taught us a lesson," he says.

"In fact, the impact of HIV/AIDS is no longer supposition but reality in China. Now we have to consider the AIDS issue from the perspective of state security," Yuan says.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2001)