Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - Wednesday, 30 October, 2002
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes , BBC correspondent, Beijing
More than 90% of children in rural China will be inoculated against common diseases by 2010.
The plan also promises that 95% of counties will have anti-tuberculosis programmes and three-quarters of rural townships will provide treatment for Aids patients.
These are impressive targets, but this plan is also a glaring admission of just how bad the health care situation in rural China has become.
Blood money
It was never good, but since the break-up of the communes 20 years ago, China's rural health system has all but collapsed.
Chinese peasants must now pay to see a doctor, if they can find one, but few have the money.
Tuberculosis is once more on the rise and Aids is taking hold across a huge swathe of central China.
It is being spread by blood-selling - a common way for poor farmers to earn extra cash.
Perhaps a million have already been infected with HIV, the virus that can lead to Aids.
The new plan promises appropriate health care for Aids patients.
It is certainly a noble goal.
But the reality today is that tens of thousands of Aids patients in rural China have no access to the expensive drugs needed to control the disease and are simply being left to die.
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BB021020
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