Central China's Hubei
Province plans to provide free antiviral therapy to all HIV
carriers and anti-retroviral treatment to impoverished AIDS
patients, said Vice Governor Zhou Jianwei at an HIV/AIDS prevention
and control conference last week.
Farmers who are carriers are exempt from the agriculture tax and
surcharges and, along with poor urban victims, will receive
subsidies from local governments, said Zhou.
Most of the HIV/AIDS sufferers in Hubei are living in straitened
circumstances. A recent survey shows that the average income of
HIV-positive residents of nine counties and cities in Hubei is less
than 640 yuan (US$77) a year.
Promising that the province will provide more help to all
HIV/AIDS victims, Zhou said the government would treat the cost of
antiviral treatment as basic medical expenditure in urban medical
insurance.
In addition, pregnant women will be eligible for free HIV tests;
if they test positive, they will get free treatment. Those who
elect to terminate the pregnancy may do so for no fee.
Orphans who suffer HIV/AIDS will be entitled to living subsidies
and will be placed in special orphanages. They can also get free
medical treatment.
Experts point out that Hubei risks a rapid increase in the
number of HIV/AIDS victims. More than 50 counties and cities in the
province have reported HIV/AIDS case--a total of 1,301 at the end
of last year, almost double the figure for 2002.
Estimates put the number of sufferers in Hubei at a minimum of
45,000. About half are likely to develop full-blown AIDS or reach
the terminal stage.
The death toll among AIDS patients last year alone accounted for
55 percent of the total number since the province reported its
first case in the late 1980s.
The Hubei government has set up a working committee comprising
32 departments to address prevention and control of the disease,
said Zhu Zhonghua, head of the provincial health department.
The working committee will dispatch 10 task forces by the end of
this month. They will be stationed in 21 counties and cities to
provide year-round treatment and care.
(China Daily March 15, 2004)