Premier pledges effective HIV/AIDS control
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-16 09:08

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met some experts on the study and control of HIV/AIDS last Friday and pledged that the government will try to prevent the spread of the deadly disease with consideration of the country's own situation.

Premier Wen Jiabao pays a special visit to Gui Xi'en, a noted HIV/AIDS expert, during his inspection tour in central China's Hubei Province, June 11. [Xinhua]

During his recent study tour in central China's Hubei Province, the premier paid a special visit to Professor Gui Xi'en, a noted HIV/AIDS expert with the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan City, the provincial capital.

Wen praised the expert for his contribution in fighting the disease. Gui and his colleagues spoke out their views on the issue, and Gui urged the government to bring HIV/AIDS under control by creating greater awareness about the disease among the public, fighting drug addiction, and protecting infants from being infected by their HIV-carrying mothers.

The government has given top priority to HIV/AIDS and other deadly epidemics like SARS, hepatitis-B and schistosomiasis, the premier said, adding that the government plans to publish official figures of HIV carriers and AIDS patients.

The government will increase its allocations for fighting the disease and continue to offer free treatment for people who have been infected by the virus, free and anonymous medical checks for those who are suspected to have been infected by the virus, free-of-charge efforts to separate infants from their HIV-carrying mothers, and financial assistance for orphans left by parents who have died of AIDS, according to the premier.

Wen urged the whole society to give more care to AIDS patients and never look down on them. He pledged to cut off the sources of the virus in the fields of blood transmission, fight prostitution to curb sex-related spreading of HIV, step up the anti-drug efforts, and popularize knowledge and ways for the prevention of HIV/AIDS among the public.

Efforts should be made to improve the cultural and ethical quality of the whole people, especially the rural population, he said.

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