Stepping up fight against AIDS
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-05 23:57

At a time when the threat of HIV/AIDS looms across our country, it is encouraging to see the frontline against the lethal disease is pushing forward.

As of this month, an ordinance on prevention and cure of HIV/AIDS takes effect in the southwestern province of Yunnan, the first time China has a by-law on AIDS.

The 26-article decree, issued by the provincial government, requires local health administrations to provide a clean needle exchange and community medical maintenance for drug addicts, and orders mandatory condom sales in hotels and entertainment venues.

Other provisions address the monitoring of HIV/AIDS incidence, financing and anti-prejudice.

The new regulation will reinforce the fight against AIDS in Yunnan, which neighbours Asia's major drug-growing belt and has one of China's highest rates of HIV/AIDS incidence.

Rather than pandering to such outlawed activities as drug-use and prostitution, as a Yunnan government spokesman suggested, the new rule provides a workable alternative for expediting control of the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The rationale behind the bold compromise to the social sicknesses is care for life, which is now upheld as the top principle in the nationwide battle against HIV/AIDS.

With that goal in mind, the central province of Henan began deploying civil servants to AIDS-hit villages last month to provide free drugs and free anonymous testing, along with care for orphans and elderly members of families affected by the disease.

With care for life, a jail in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province opened special cells inside its hospital last year for HIV-infected prisoners, spending several thousand yuan to provide medical treatment for each of them.

With care for life, the Supreme Court ruled HIV/AIDS out of the list of infections banned from marriage registration in its interpretation of the marriage law.

Discussion on HIV/AIDS and related social problems is no longer taboo in China, where aggressive steps are being taken in all parts of the country commensurate with local conditions.

There is also a will to open to international teamwork in this regard, as evidenced by the launch of a new China-US initiative to combat the epidemic. Compared to the long trek China has to go through towards conquering HIV/AIDS, however, all the work done so far is no more than a small step.

Official data indicate about 840,000 residents are infected with HIV -- including 80,000 full-blown cases. It is extremely difficult to contain the spread of the virus, considering the huge fluidity of population.

Public knowledge and precautions regarding AIDS remain insufficient despite the government's publicity efforts. Rehabilitation measures are also needed to prevent AIDS patients becoming a disadvantaged stratum. A financing network has yet to be created to support expensive medical treatment.

As the Ministry of Health has warned, China is now experiencing a period of high incidence of HIV/AIDS. There is no chance to escape an AIDS catastrophe without teeth-gritting efforts to address the challenges that lay ahead.

The hope is that the country will adhere to the right decision -- adopting a humanity-centred approach and amassing all resources available -- to continue the fight.

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