HIV ON THE RISE IN CHINA
by: bruzzones2000 (53/California) 10/14/05 04:29 pm
Msg: 10470 of 10471
China: HIV cases up by 42%
14/10/2005 13:33 - (SA)
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Health24: HIV/Aids Centre
Beijing - China's health ministry on Friday reported a 42% rise in the number of HIV infections, with a campaign to test hundreds of thousands of rural residents who sold their blood in the 1990s believed to be a major factor behind the sharp rise.
Health departments across China had reported a cumulative total of 126 808 HIV infections, including 28 789 Aids cases, by the end of June, the ministry said.
The report gave no reason for the sharp rise from the last reported total of 89 067 HIV cases by the end of September 2004.
Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in China, said the increase in reported cases appeared to be a "reflection that the government has been testing", said WHO spokesperson Aphaluck Bhatiasevi.
"We don't have the impression that there is an overall increase in infections," Bhatiasevi said.
She said recent random surveys seemed to "show little increase" in the number of HIV infections.
Blod donors tested
The health ministry launched a campaign last year to find and test former blood donors in poor, rural areas of central China.
Some 20 000 more cases were reported in the central province of Henan alone by November last year, according to state media reports.
Unsafe blood collection and usage has been one of the key reasons for the spread of HIV/Aids in China. Other reasons include intravenous drug use, especially in the southwestern border province of Yunnan, and increasing sexual transmission.
In a report at the end of last year, UNAIDS said sharp rises in the number of reported HIV cases since 2002 also "reflected the more rigorous HIV screening conducted among former commercial blood and plasma donors in Henan and injecting drug users in Yunnan during this period, as well as the ongoing expansion of the epidemic".
A warning from the UN
Henan is one of the worst affected areas, with health officials previously estimating that up to 100 000 people may have been infected through selling their blood since the mid-1980s. Other estimates put the number of infected at 500 000 to 700 000.
United Nations' health experts have warned that HIV could infect 10 million Chinese by 2010 if the government fails to expand its education, prevention and anti-discrimination campaigns.
Some UN experts estimate that about 1.5 million people in China are currently HIV infected, but the Chinese government uses a lower estimate of 840 000.
Most HIV-infected people are believed to be still undiagnosed because of ignorance, fear, poverty and other factors.
China's death toll from HIV/Aids had reached 7 375 by the end of June, the health ministry said on Friday. - Sapa-dpa
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