The of people estimated to be living with HIV in China has risen to 700,000 and continues to be a challenge among high-risk populations, according to a report released yesterday by the UN and the Chinese government.
The government had previously estimated 650,000 to be living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
There were 50,000 new cases this year, mainly among intravenous drug users and sex workers, said the joint assessment by UNAIDS and a committee of the State Council.
"China's HIV epidemic remains one of low prevalence overall, but with pockets of high infection among specific sub-populations," said the 38-page report, which was to be officially released on World AIDS Day tomorrow. "A number of core challenges remain."
Those include the need for better advocacy and education, improved treatment and care, and more focused education and discrimination reduction, it said.
The report also noted that the number of cases of HIV officially reported still remained at only 223,501 -- far lower than the estimated total in part because of people's reluctance to seek testing. The officially reported figure includes those who developed AIDS and those who died from the disease.
HIV gained a foothold largely due to unsanitary blood plasma-buying schemes and tainted transfusions in local hospitals. But Chinese Minister of Health Chen Zhu (
After years of denying that there was an AIDS problem, officials have shifted gears dramatically in recent years, confronting the disease more openly and promising anonymous testing, free treatment for the poor and a ban on discrimination against people with the virus. The topic remains very sensitive and authorities regularly crack down on activists and patients seeking more rights.
In 2004, China scaled back the estimated number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from nearly 1 million people to 840,000, and then further lowered the figure to 650,000 in 2005.
Experts have said the figures are probably accurate because they are in line with a change in the way data are collected.
According to yesterday's report, there was an increase in the number of infections through heterosexual sex, as well as transmissions between sex workers and their clients.
Khalid Malik, the UN resident coordinator in China, said HIV/AIDS remained a "large challenge" in China.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
RSS