Plagues,
Pestilences and Diseases
AIDS killed 30,000 in China in 2011, study says
AFP News
AIDS killed 30,000 people in China last year, and another 48,000
new infections from the HIV virus were discovered in the country,
according to an official report on Saturday.
In China 780,000 people live with the HIV virus, of which 154,000
developed AIDS, a report jointly produced by China's Ministry of
Health, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the
World Health Organization said.
In September 2011 there were 136,000 people receiving anti-viral
treatment for the disease, it said, making the treatment coverage
rate 73.5 percent, an increase of 11.5 percentage points compared
to 2009.
The report, quoted by China's official state media Xinhua, said
some new trends had appeared, notably "a rise in the number of
imported cases and those transmitted sexually".
Sexual relations are the first source of contamination of the HIV
virus in China, where a huge blood contamination scandal erupted
in the central Henan province in the 1990s.
HIV/AIDS sufferers have long been stigmatised in the country, and
rights groups estimate the number of sufferers to be higher, but
increased government education has helped raise awareness.