BEIJING, Dec 18 (AFP) - Chinese Vice Premier and Health Minister Wu Yi visited an "AIDS village" Thursday in another sign of a stepped up government drive to confront an epidemic experts warn could explode if not addressed.
But heavy handed police tactics against vocal critics of Chinese government policy marred the event.
Wu is the only official from the central government's top echelon who has visited villages devastated by AIDS after poor farmers became infected from selling blood in unsanitary blood collection schemes.
Wu visited at least one village -- Wenlou -- which is one of hundreds hit by AIDS in central Henan province.
"She arrived after breakfast," said an official from Shangcai county's government AIDS prevention office, without giving further details. Wu was accompanied by the Henan communist party secretary and its governor.
Farmers in Wenlou told AFP police arrived in the village before Wu did and prevented about 20 AIDS patients who had been especially vocal in requesting government assistance from leaving their homes.
"Four police officers grabbed me when I tried to leave my house," said Cheng Jiuhu, a 34 year-old man who has AIDS and whose wife also suffers from the disease.
"They held us for about three hours and did not let us go until after Wu Yi left."
He claimed the villagers Wu met were paid by local officials to paint a rosy picture and that he wanted to tell her the real situation in Wenlou, which was the first AIDS village reported about by Chinese media.
The village has received the most media coverage and more government assistance than elsewhere, but conditions remain difficult, Cheng said.
"The medicine they're giving us now makes people vomit and dizzy and gives people fevers. Most patients cannot take this medicine. They are suffering worse symptoms than before," Cheng said.
More than 200 people in the village of several hundred have HIV/AIDS.
While they are receiving a version of the anti-retroviral AIDS cocktail the government began distributing in July, many have stopped taking the medicine because of the strong side effects.
"I only know two people who are feeling better after taking the drug and one of them is myself," he said.
International AIDS specialists and Chinese health officials have said about 20 percent of the people receiving the drugs have stopped taken them, partly due to side effects and the lack of doctors to provide follow-up care.
The drugs are of lower quality because they are older versions of AIDS drugs whose patents have expired, which is all China can afford.
Cheng said he also wanted to ask Wu to urge the government to provide financial assistance to patients because many of them cannot work and support their family.
"Local officials often lie that they are giving us a lot of help," Cheng said.
In recent months, China has appeared more determined to address HIV/AIDS, which is estimated to have infected at least one million and killed nearly 150,000, with Premier Wen Jiabao visiting AIDS patients in a Beijing hospital on World AIDS Day.
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