CHINA: China Turns to Traditional Medicine to Treat AIDS

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

CHINA: China Turns to Traditional Medicine to Treat AIDS

Agence France Presse (05.04.04) - Thursday, May 06, 2004

China's central Henan province is turning to traditional Chinese medicine to treat HIV/AIDS because Western drugs proved to have too many side effects and are too costly, the China Daily reported Tuesday. Next month, the province - which has at least 35,000 HIV/AIDS patients - will kick off a campaign that promotes traditional medicine, focusing primarily on the area's vast countryside where the majority of patients live.

The decision comes 10 months after China launched a program to provide free antiretroviral drugs to AIDS-stricken farmers. Health officials have since admitted the program's AIDS drugs are old and less effective than more expensive, newer drugs, and around 20 percent of patients have discontinued taking them due to severe side effects. Though the annual cost of major AIDS drugs has dropped significantly in China to less than 20,000 yuan (US$2,415), it is still beyond the means of the average Chinese.

According to reports, the new effort will be launched at selected hospitals in Henan, and teams will be created to research the use of traditional Chinese medicines in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Lin Ruichao, director of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Beijing-based National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceuticals and Biological Products, believes there is "great potential" for traditional medicines to help treat HIV/AIDS. To date, just one traditional medicine - Tangcaopian - has won a State Food and Drug Administration license for HIV/AIDS treatment.
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