Unhealthy sexual behavior is the biggest culprit in spreading
HIV/AIDS on the mainland, while men who have sex with men (MSM) are
now the most likely to become infected by the disease, an official
with the Ministry of Health said yesterday.
"In the past, between?one and?three percent of MSM in
the mainland had HIV/AIDS. Now it is anywhere from 2.5 to 6.5
percent," Hao Yang, deputy chief of the disease prevention and
control bureau under the Ministry of Health, said.
More than half of China's MSM have more than one sexual partner,
but only between 10 and 20 percent of them use condoms, he
said.
Also, many MSM are bi-sexual, meaning they run the risk of
spreading HIV/AIDS to their girlfriends, wives or children, he
said.
The number of people with HIV on the mainland increased by an
average 3,000 a month between January last year and June this year,
according to official figures.
To fight this problem, the Ministry of Health and the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation yesterday jointly launched a five-year
campaign to teach MSM about preventing and controlling
HIV/AIDS.
The foundation will invest $50 million a year to support the
campaign, which will operate in 14 large and medium-sized cities,
including the four municipalities.
Huang Jiefu, vice-minister of the Ministry of Health, said: "The
key purpose of this program is to contain the epidemic and reduce
the rate of new infections among high-risk parts of the population
living in the area covered by the campaign.
"We also want to promote the adoption of effective prevention
and control strategies in areas not covered by the campaign.
"In the future, the government will focus more on international
cooperation and experience-sharing in the fight against HIV/AIDS,"
he said at the campaign's launch ceremony yesterday in Beijing.
The government has been working with the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the United Nations and other
bilateral agencies, he said.
Many non-governmental organizations such as the Clinton
foundation and the Global Entrepreneur Association as well as
companies such as Merck have also joined the country's fight
against HIV/AIDS, according to the ministry.
"I feel very hopeful that China will be able to control AIDS
within the next five to 10 years," Ray Yip, the country
representative for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said
yesterday.
He said China has committed to fighting the disease at a time
when the overall prevalence is still very low - less than one in
1,000.
"I have seen two conditions necessary for controlling AIDS:
Early response and high-level commitment. Now, the only remaining
necessary condition is an effective prevention program," he
said.
(China Daily November 16, 2007)