China says HIV/AIDS cases soaring to new levels
Pastor Dale Morgan
China says HIV/AIDS cases soaring to new levels*
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Nov 29, 2007
China is experiencing a rapid increase in HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of
thousands of new infections each year, the government said Thursday, but
activists warned the problem was far greater.
Chen said there were an estimated 50,000- 100,000 new HIV infections in
2007, when at least 25,000 people died from AIDS
"The upward trend of AIDS disease continue, and we should still
strengthen our work," Chen said.
The latest figures were based on work carried out by the Chinese
government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
In January last year, the three sides said there were an estimated
1,000,000 people with HIV/AIDS, following similar research carried out
together.
But independent AIDS activists have long warned that these figures
underestimate the rampant spread of the disease.
"We believe the actual figures far exceed these official estimates,"
said activist Hu Jia.
Hu said provincial authorities tended to under-report the real figures
to the central government, which still banned third parties from
carrying out independent investigations.
"In fact, during the past two years, local governments have stepped up
their crackdowns on the grass-roots non-government organisations... they
are not willing to have them witness the AIDS situation," he said.
Another leading AIDS campaigner, Wan Yanhai, has previously said the
number of people suffering from the disease in China could be 10 times
higher than official estimates.
The health ministry on Thursday said heterosexual contact was a top
cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent.
Intravenous drug abuse caused 42 percent of the infections, and sex
between men 12.2 percent, while 1.1 percent of the cases happened
because infected mothers passed it on to their unborn children, the
ministry said.
But Hu said the official statistics announced omitted infections through
unsafe blood transfusions, especially those at public hospitals,
possibly because the government was nervous about facing up to its
responsibility.
Thousands of people, mainly uneducated peasants, were infected mainly in
Henan province during the 1990s through tainted blood transfusions at
illegal blood collection stations.
Gao Yaojie, a retired doctor and veteran Chinese AIDS activist, told AFP
in an interview earlier this week that the deadly practice was still
going on despite government attempts to eradicate it.
"Farmers sell blood because they are too poor to make a living and pay
school fees for their kids and so on," Gao said from Henan province.
Accurate AIDS statistics are hard to come by in China, mainly because of
huge size of the country and the lack of transparency.