China is on the verge of an AIDS epidemic “of proportions beyond belief” according to a United Nations report.
At the end of 2001, between 800,000 and 1.5 million people in China were infected with HIV, a figure which could increase to 10 million by 2010, claims the United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS). The estimates are based on the HIV testing of high-risk groups such as drug users, sex-workers, pregnant women and people with sexually transmitted infections.
The UNAIDS report is urging the Chinese government to spend more on HIV education and prevention. Many Chinese have never heard the word AIDS says the report, and many more believe that HIV can be contracted from insect bites or shaking hands. Although the Chinese government organised the country’s first AIDS conference late last year, UNAIDS highlights that many Chinese officials lack commitment to fight the spread of HIV, and despite recent media campaigns, stigma surrounding the disease makes people reluctant to come forward for testing.
In April, the Chinese state media said that 68% of HIV infections were from injecting drug use. In addition, it estimated that almost 10% of infections had been caused by illegal blood selling which is widespread in many rural areas and has led to many farmers contracting HIV from contaminated equipment. In some villages in the Henan province the greater part of the population is already infected with HIV.
Whilst national HIV prevalence is much lower than in southern Africa, high local prevalence levels mean that HIV could spread rapidly across the population, particularly as sexual transmission of HIV is becoming more widespread, among both gay men and heterosexuals. The UN is urging China’s leaders to challenge traditionally conservative attitudes towards sex by speaking publicly about safer sex. The report says that in recent years HIV awareness has only increased “minimally.”
“At the dawn of the third millennium, China is on the verge of a catastrophe that could result in unimaginable human suffering, economic loss, and social devastation,” said the UNAIDS report.