China's AIDS prevention and control work is at a crucial stage,
said Vice Premier Wu Yi at
a national work conference on AIDS prevention held in Beijing on
Tuesday and Wednesday. Stressing the extreme importance and
emergency of curbing the quick spread of the deadly disease, Wu
said if no effective prevention and control measures are taken,
"the consequences will be very grievous."
China's fight against HIV/AIDS has lasted 19 years, since the
first case of HIV infection was reported in 1985. The Ministry of
Health's assessment report on AIDS prevention and control indicates
that HIV is an epidemic affecting all the mainland's 31 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities. There are 840,000 HIV
carriers, of whom 80,000 suffer from AIDS.
"The number of HIV carriers has rapidly increased, and the virus
has been epidemic not only among high-risk groups, but also among
normal people," said Dai Zhicheng, vice chairman of the China
Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS Prevention and Control
Association.
Experts warn that over 10 million Chinese will be HIV-positive
in 2010 unless effective countermeasures are taken.
Wu Yi, also head of a national committee for AIDS prevention, is
widely praised for her tough stance in last year's fight against
SARS. She vowed at the meeting to push the publicity campaign to
increase awareness of AIDS prevention and control among the general
public as well as high-risk groups, improve their understanding of
the disease and fight prejudice against AIDS patients and HIV
carriers.
"The AIDS epidemic severely affects people's health and life as
well as economic and social development," she said, noting the
Communist Party of China and the State Council consider the issue
extremely important.
The government has implemented a number of measures, including
free treatment for the indigent ill, the establishment of AIDS
control centers, the legislation of AIDS-related laws and
international cooperation.
"We should enhance management of blood banks, strictly crack
down on illegal blood collection and eliminate in-hospital
infection to curb virus spread through blood transfusions," she
said.
Firm measures should be taken to restrain prostitution as well
as the use and sale of banned drugs.
All departments should make timely and honest reports on the
epidemic situation, and any hiding or delaying of epidemic reports
will be punished, she said.
The government, using law and science to implement AIDS
prevention and control, should motivate social forces to establish
new mechanisms for AIDS prevention, she said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2004)