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Reason replacing fear in AIDS fight
By Ma Guihua (China Features)
Updated: 2004-07-13 01:49 The Ministry of Health announced this April that the government would give
free, anonymous testing and counselling to HIV carriers who have financial
difficulties. Hubei and Henan provinces in Central China have pledged to offer
free AIDS medication to all HIV-carriers in addition to dispatching officials to
the areas most seriously hit by the epidemic.
On July 7, the ministry inked a deal with GlaxoSmithKline, a pharmaceutical
giant, for the supply of Lamivadin, or 3TC, a key component in cocktail drug
formulas that fight the effects of AIDS, at a reduced price to make the
treatment affordable to more people.
Meanwhile, more efforts are being made to track down infected individuals so
as to curb the spread of the disease, which has been another major challenge in
the battle against AIDS, says a ministry official.
Of the estimated 840,000 HIV carriers in the country, only 7.4 per cent are
registered and can be monitored. AIDS testing centres around China report that
some of those tested simply disappear after they are informed that they were
tested positive. Without detailed personal information, follow-up treatment and
monitoring become virtually impossible.
Many hide themselves because they are afraid of discrimination, which is the
biggest stumbling block for China's efforts in curbing the AIDS epidemic,
according to Dr Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), who made a trip to China this May.
"That's why events like Chen Yan and Ding Guifang's wedding are encouraging
and should be encouraged," says Dr Wu Zunyou, director of the Department of
Health Education and Behavioral Intervention at the National Centre for AIDS
Prevention and Control.
Wu, who has been spearheading a pilot project in four Chinese cities to
distribute condoms in entertainment venues, is glad to see that the rate of
condom use has risen to 75 per cent in some targeted places, but he aims at
raising the figure to 100 per cent.
Other harm reduction measures designed for high-risk groups are getting
scaled up. Given the fact that nearly 64 per cent of China's reported HIV/AIDS
cases are caused by needle-sharing among injecting drug users, the much-disputed
needle exchange programme and the use of methadone as a substitute for heroin
for die-hard drug addicts are now being more positively accepted because of
their effectiveness.
Although needle-sharing among intravenous drug users remains the main
transmission route, statistics reveal that the proportion of sexually
transmitted HIV infections had increased from 5.5 per cent in 1997 to 10.9 per
cent at the end of 2002, while the proportion of mother-to-child transmission
rose from 0.1 per cent to 0.4 per cent.
"China should constantly promote effective intervention measures (to prevent
the spread of AIDS)," said China's Vice-Premier Wu Yi at a national working
meeting on HIV/AIDS.
Nonetheless, legal support for such measures is still absent. China's
existing 300 or so laws and regulations issued at various levels on AIDS
prevention and control are often contradictory. Some still classify AIDS as a
venereal disease, while others require that AIDS patients be isolated.
Insiders still worry about the possible misleading messages sent out by such
measures as condom use promotion and needle exchange programme, which seem in
conflict with the current punitive laws against prostitution and drug use.
"We have to find a balance point between the protection of individual rights
and public health," says Zhang Kong, vice-president of the China Association for
the Prevention of Venereal Disease and HIV/AIDS.
The amendment draft to China's 15-year-old law on contagious disease
prevention and control has cancelled the clause on forcible isolation of
HIV/AIDS patients, which is regarded as a major step toward eliminating
discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS.
"HIV/AIDS is now percolating down from high-risk groups to the general public
in China," says Yin Dakuai, former vice-minister of health. "AIDS has become an
issue beyond health. It is now a matter connected with national security. It is
therefore the responsibility of the government to marshal all possible resources
in the fight to control the disease."
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