Wen Jiabao became the first premier in China to shake hands with HIV/AIDS patients Monday in Beijing, highlighting the central government's determination to fight the increasing epidemic.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Health Minister Wu Yi visits AIDS patients in Ditan Hospital in Beijing, December 1, 2003. [Xinhua]

He asked governments at various levels to make concerted efforts to conduct better prevention and control work concerning HIV/AIDS, including widening public education on the afflictions, stronger epidemic surveillance, more investment for medical treatment and strengthening international co-operation.

More investment from various levels of governments will be used to provide free treatment for low-level AIDS patients, free HIV testing and support for the education of orphans left behind by victims of the afflictions, Wen said.

Wen and Vice-Premier Wu Yi, who is also the health minister of China, visited Ditan Hospital, a well-known hospital throughout China for dealing with infectious disease cases, and expressed their sympathies to patients there Monday, which was World AIDS Day.

Greater attention from top leaders of the central government and a stronger leading headquarters concerning HIV/AIDS management have been proposed by domestic and overseas experts as the most urgent and effective way for China to tackle the epidemic.

Since last year, the central government has begun investing roughly 122 million yuan (US$15 million) annually in HIV/AIDS prevention and control. And the total cost from various local governments has reached 200 million yuan (US$24 million) a year, Hao Yang, a HIV/AIDS division chief of the Disease Control Department of the Ministry of Health told China Daily.

However, with such an investment, most of which will be used in prevention campaigns, it is hard to provide the necessary medical treatment for patients.

The number of patients being diagnosed with AIDS and the number of HIV carriers who are developing into AIDS cases are both on the rise, Hao added.

Experts have estimated that about 70 per cent of the country's AIDS patients do not have access to necessary treatment at the moment.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has not been effectively controlled among what is considered the nation's high-risk population and it has started to spread to the general public, according to a joint assessment of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in China, which was issued Monday.

More spread possible

The current HIV/AIDS epidemic in China overall is considered to have a low prevalence nationally, while high prevalence clusters continue to increase at a rapid rate.

As well, some regions in China are entering a period where the number of AIDS infections and related deaths are escalating.

Meanwhile, HIV risk factors exist throughout the nation, so there is a good chance for the epidemic to become more widespread. And in areas with high HIV figures, HIV and AIDS have brought about different degrees of social and economic impacts and burdens.

This is the second time that the Chinese Government and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have jointly issued such an assessment.

The first UN Theme Group-Ministry of Health joint assessment report "China Responds to AIDS'' was published in 1997, said Ma Xiaowei, deputy minister of health said Monday at the launching ceremony of the 2003 edition.

Ma added that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has seen considerable change since the first report.

The epidemic in China has gone through three phases including entry (1985-1988), spreading (1989-1994) and expansion phases (1995-present), the assessment said.

In recent years, the epidemic has become more serious. By June of this year, the accumulated number of reported HIV cases in the whole country was 45,092, of which 3,532 were AIDS patients, with 1,800 deaths on record.

According to the latest estimates by Chinese health authorities, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, currently there are 840,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers which includes 80,000 AIDS patients.

If nothing is done to stem HIV prevention, some 10 million Chinese citizens may be infected by 2010, experts have warned.

Data from the national HIV surveillance system indicates that about 45 per cent of HIV/AIDS cases are from injecting drug use, 31 per cent are sex-related and about 24 per cent are from infected blood products, said the WHO Monday.

The deadly epidemic has spread to all of China's provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities as of 1999.

But the status of HIV/AIDS is quite different in various areas. The epidemic is more severe in certain areas and among specific populations, including drug users and sex workers.

For example, in 2002, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Sichuan, Henan and Guangdong all had over 1,000 reported HIV infections and estimated number of infections of more than 40,000 each, the assessment noted.

There has been a significant increase in the number of the AIDS patients and related deaths, especially in recent years. From 1985 to 2000, the cumulative number of AIDS cases reported was 880, with 496 related deaths. The number of AIDS cases and deaths in 2001 and 2002 were 1742 and 716 respectively.

In certain areas, a relatively high rate of HIV prevalence is found among the unmarried youth population. For example, in 2001, anonymous HIV testing of that demographic was undertaken in Yining, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Findings showed that out of the 2,024 people tested, the overall prevalence rate was 1.14 per cent,with a 1.78 per cent figure among males.

Currently in China, the migrant population is estimated to be around 120 million, mostly of a sexually active age. This population is faced with greater risks to engage in unsafe sex and increasing changes of HIV/AIDS transmission due to physical pressures and increased liberty and opportunities combined with ignorance, the assessment noted.

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