A survey on the proportion of homosexuals and homosexual HIV
carriers in the population was recently conducted in northeast
China's Heilongjiang
Province. It is the first survey of its kind in the
country.
The Heilongjiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
has received 1,300 responses from a Chinese website where the
questionnaire appeared and begun analysis, said Wu Yuhua, deputy
head of the provincial disease and virus control
institute.?
The survey is part of a China-US program to improve monitoring,
prevention and control of AIDS jointly sponsored by the Chinese
Ministry of Health and the US Department of Health and Human
Services. The program was launched in April 2004 and will continue
for five years, said Wu.
Heilongjiang is one of the 10 provinces and autonomous regions
in China taking part in the program. So far it is the only one to
set up a monitoring site for homosexual AIDS groups.
Because few homosexuals in China are willing to declare
themselves openly, data of this kind have been difficult to
collect. The Heilongjiang CDC worked together with the operator of
the?www.aixinsky.com website to conduct the survey, Wu
said.
The website company conducted research and collected 270 urine
and 50 blood samples, as well as distributing and compiling the
questionnaires. It turned in the completed questionnaires to the
provincial CDC on July 17.
The data collected by the website will be an important reference
tool in the prevention and control of AIDS nationwide. The HIV
carriers found through the survey will be timely given treatment
and care, said Wu.
(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2004)