Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Wednesday November 21, 2001
Tamora Vidaillet

Mehr Khan, the Thailand-based East Asia Director for the United Nations Children's Fund, hailed China's first ever AIDS conference this month as a breakthrough.

"For me it was very important to see that the whole issue of breaking the silence, which is a very major issue in every single country that addresses the issue of HIV/AIDS, has now been addressed in China," she told a news conference.

"Even in Thailand, which is often quoted as a success story, it took a number of years," she said.

In August, China made an unusual admission of the scale of the country's AIDS threat, announcing that reported infections of HIV -- the virus that can cause AIDS -- surged 67.4 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2001 to 3,541 cases.

Earlier, the Chinese Psychiatric Association dropped homosexuality from a list of psychiatric disorders, a move gay activists say could make it easier to organize AIDS education and prevention programs among the gay community.

At the AIDS conference, at least one AIDS sufferer was invited along with Chinese media stars and health experts, breaking a taboo. Health Minister Zhang Wenkang vowed to curb the spread of the disease, although the meeting was short on initiatives.

ALARMING GROWTH

Edwin Judd, UNICEF Area Representative for China and Mongolia, said China had an opportunity to avert a major epidemic by stepping up preventative measures.

He told the news conference China had anywhere between 600,000 and 1.5 million HIV cases. The official figure is put at around 28,000 by the end of September.

"What is very alarming in recent years is the rate of increase. We think this is increasing about 25 to 30 percent a year off the base of each year so the rate of increase is going up fast," said Judd.

He was encouraged that Chinese schools had started teaching reproductive health but warned "we're only at the beginning."

China's main challenge was to prevent HIV from spreading into the general population and to ensure that sufferers had access to effective medical treatment, Judd said.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, intravenous drug use accounts for 69.8 percent of all HIV cases and heterosexual contact for 6.9 percent. China does not break out figures for homosexual infections.

"The response needs to be much stronger," Judd said.

"I would say China has an opportunity to avert a major epidemic but it must take more action quickly or else face the threat of 10 million HIV cases in China by 2010 unless these strong interventions are taken," he said.

UNICEF aimed to work with schools to promote HIV awareness and help ensure infected children were treated, he said.
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