Guangdong unveils program to battle syphilis

The Guangdong provincial Health Department has announced a nine-year plan to fight its rapidly rising cases of syphilis.

According to the Proposals to Prevent and Cure Syphilis in Guangdong Province (2012-20), the province will increase examinations for the sexually transmitted disease in the following years, to bring it under control by 2015 and have the number of cases decline by 2020.

The syphilis examinations will target mainly sex workers, gay men, drug addicts and others who have a high risk of contracting the disease, according to the proposals published on the department's official website on Wednesday.