Despite lower estimated figures and stronger political
commitment, China still faces challenges in HIV/AIDS control, said
an expert from the World Health Organization (WHO) Monday.
The government had made some achievements in fighting HIV/AIDS
in terms of high-level political commitment and the initiation of
effective prevention, treatment, care and support programs, said Dr
Wiwat Rojanapithayakorn, HIV/AIDS team leader in the WHO's Beijing
office.
"The country has got one agreed HIV/AIDS action framework that
drives alignment of all partners, one national AIDS authority with
a broad-based multi-sector mandate and one agreed country-level
monitoring and evaluation system," Wiwat said in a presentation at
a regional conference.
However, China still needed to scale up effective interventions
and eliminate the widespread stigma of sufferers. It should also
mount an effective AIDS response in the context of a weak
healthcare system, the expert told the Beijing Conference on East
Asian Regional Cooperation in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria.
China has 650,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, including 75,000
with clinical, or fully developed, AIDS, Wiwat cited the 2005
Update on the HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Response in China as
saying.
The former version of the report released in 2003 estimated
China had 840,000 HIV infections including 80,000 AIDS
patients.
Last year, there were 25,000 AIDS deaths and 70,000 new HIV
infections recorded by the Ministry of Health.
Moreover, China had a large population at risk of HIV, he
warned.
Between 30 million and 50 million people were at risk of HIV,
and the sex industry and sexual activity were increasing while
levels of condom use remained low, he said, adding that the country
also had a large migrant population of up to 120 million
people.
China had been taking action in fighting HIV/AIDS, said Wu
Zunyou, director of the national center for AIDS/STD (sexually
transmitted diseases) control and prevention under the national
Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
It has strengthened surveillance and testing by setting up 329
national surveillance sites, 2,850 free testing clinics and 3,756
screening labs.
In 2004 and 2005, China carried out an HIV testing campaign
among high risk groups. "About eight percent of infections were
identified before the campaign and 22 percent after it," Wu told
the conference.
Moreover, the central government had established an AIDS working
committee in all provinces, and promulgated a national regulation
on AIDS prevention and control, said Wu.
However, experts said the control of HIV/AIDS needed more
financial support and public awareness, and more care for
AIDS-afflicted families.
"By 2010, China will have limited people living with HIV/AIDS to
no more than 1.5 million," Wu said, citing the new Five-Year Plan
(2006-2010).
Participants from East Asian countries are gathering in Beijing
to discuss cooperation in the control of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria. Six million people die of the diseases around the globe
each year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2006)