China is at a crucial moment in winning the war against HIV/AIDS, experts said at a recent forum on the care of children affected by the rapidly spreading disease.

China is at the early stage of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the nation will not necessarily develop into a full-blown HIV/AIDS country as has happened in many parts of Africa, said Ray Yip, director of the China-US AIDS Prevention and Care Project, at the forum held on Sunday.

However, this must be based on enhanced awareness and immediate prevention efforts, said Yip, also AIDS counselor of the United Nation's Children's Fund Office in China.

Experts at the forum said the present HIV/AIDS status of China is similar to that of South Africa 15 years ago.

The highly endangered group are mainly drug users, said Yip. Statistics show that about 60 per cent of Chinese HIV/AIDS victims are infected through sharing needles for intravenous drug use.

"We know where they are and it is now relatively easy to find them and stop the spread of the disease," said Yip.

Yip defined prostitutes as the bridge group, saying that negligence would lead to wide infection among ordinary people through prostitution.

Though the central government is making good progress towards HIV/AIDS prevention and care, some local officials and the public still need to pay more attention to the issue, said Koen Vanormelingen, a health official with the UNICEF Office in China.

In his trips around China, Vanormelingen has met many local officials who still feel the problem is some distance away, when it is actually on their doorsteps.

South Africa and Zambia said the same thing at the beginning, but now they have seen an AIDS catastrophe, said Vanormelingen.

After the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak this spring, China should learn to tackle the epidemic before it is too late, said experts at the forum. They also believed that the mechanisms and successful experiences learned from the SARS crisis could help China deal with the more frightening epidemic in a mature way.

"We should learn a lesson from the past and avoid the HIV/AIDS bomb in China," said Vanormelingen.

Xinhua

(HK Edition 12/02/2003 page1)

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