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The central Government has finally taken enough notice of Aids to launch a new prevention and control plan and to send inspectors to one of the country's most ravaged areas, but many are sceptical the attention will make a dent in controlling the epidemic.
The Government has pledged to give 950 million yuan (HK$893 million) to establish 250 new blood collection and screening centres and will commit 100 million yuan each year towards improved public education and treatment.
"Only 100 million a year towards treatment is laughable. My son's medical care costs several hundred thousand yuan a year, and he's far from the only one affected," said Song Xishan, whose son, Pengfei, was infected by a blood transfusion.
While the plan hopes to lower the growth rate of annual infections from 30 to 10 per cent, its planned public outreach is lopsided from the start, targeting only 45 per cent of rural villagers, compared to 75 per cent of urban residents, with comprehensive Aids prevention information.
Although official say 71 per cent of infections are contracted through syringe sharing and seven per cent through sexual intercourse, the new plan does not focus on enhancing condom distribution or giving addicts clean needles.
Speaking about why a similar 1998 plan was inadequate, the Ministry of Health's Disease Control Department deputy Chen Xianyi said: "The plan has not been effectively implemented in some places because local officials are still unaware of the seriousness of the epidemic."
But the problem is not just one of ignorance. Many local officials are reticent to accept responsibility for handling the problem and potential central government reprisals for letting drug addiction, prostitution and an illegal blood trade thrive in their own backyards.
"Local officials in various parts of the country are reluctant to collect data on HIV for fear that their province will be blackballed as a highly infected area," said Zeng Yi, China's leading Aids researcher and a member of Beijing's Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Such was the case in Henan province's Wenlou county, which has an infection rate of about 65 per cent . A central government taskforce has finally gone to the area after a surge of media reports about the area. It ordered a new clinic be opened to provide free medical care to the community.
"You can't imagine just how difficult it is for us to report on Aids. The cause of the area's epidemic is just too sensitive and the presence of a central government team in the area is proof that they want to control what information leaves Wenlou," said a journalist from neighbouring Zhengzhou.
The cause of the epidemic in Wenlou county has been replicated to varying degrees in impoverished areas throughout the nation. Strapped for cash, people of the same blood type donate their blood into one pool on the black market. The "blood heads" who control these operations take out the valuable plasma and then re-infuse the donors to prevent aneamia.
The results of such operations are startling, as evidenced by a police bust of a blood-selling operation in January in Shanxi province's Lingqiu county. All 18 of those arrested tested positive for hepatitis B, 16 were positive for hepatitis C, seven for syphilis and 11 for HIV. All 64 plasma bags found at the scene were contaminated with hepatitis B and HIV.
For Gao Yaojie, 71, a retired gynaecologist who has been working tirelessly to draw attention to the plight of the afflicted villagers in Wenlou, the Government's recent attention is far too little, too late.
"Aids in this area can no longer be controlled by such measures. The affected regions are too huge," said Dr Gao.
She surveyed more than 10,000 people and found that fewer than 15 per cent knew how the disease was spread or how to protect themselves from it.
"I certainly know that I am just flipping spoonfuls of water on to a roaring fire. What I really hope I am doing is moving people with a conscience to sympathise with people living with Aids, to treat them well," she wrote recently.
A floating population of 100 million migrants without an adequate social safety net means HIV is being transmitted through formerly static borders by a population unlikely to seek public health care or to get tested.
According to Health Minister Zhang Wenkang, the Government could account for only 23,905 people with HIV and 956 patients with full-blown Aids at the end of March. Although the Government now believes 600,000 people have HIV, some doctors and journalists believe there are perhaps one million nationwide. The United Nations estimates China will have 10 million infections by 2010.
"We hope we can find better ways to give all these patients adequate treatment, to have cheaper drugs or free drugs," Mr Zhang said.
Only 200 of those infected are receiving free protease inhibitors. But with eight separate HIV strains in China, the anti-viral "drug cocktail" available in the United States, which is only effective against HIV-1 strains, would be ineffective even if the US$10,000 (HK$77,800) a year cost wasn't prohibitive.
"The biggest thing that needs to happen to truly lower the infection rate hinges on openness at all levels. This is happening, albeit quite slowly," said an NGO worker involved in Aids public awareness efforts in Yunnan province.
Victory in the War against Aids is only a "NO" away. Simple and free. No vaccinations or drugs required. This is the simplest and easiest disease to prevent in the history of the world.
Strapped for cash, people of the same blood type donate their blood into one pool on the black market. The "blood heads" who control these operations take out the valuable plasma and then re-infuse the donors to prevent aneamia.
Is this called "Chinese roulette"?
Could one of you do a current heads-up for Bloodhounds? TIA
Sure, T, but just what is the current heads-up for the Bloodhounds?
New outbreaks, or old ones never reported.
> what is the current heads-up for the Bloodhounds?
A gruff, throaty bark that all will hear.
Old ones, probably. Socialist governments have been at pains to tell the world that there is no AIDS in their workers' paradise -- that only decadent capitalist society suffers this problem. Then they figure out a way to ignore the disease or to treat it on the cheap until it is out of control. I remember the Chinese recommending acupuncture and herbal treatment. That's tantamount to doing nothing at all.
Here are a few more...
And a few more...
And this doesn't count all the new BLOODHOUNDS!
I've been watching this one in the Chinese press for a couple of weeks. The over-looked reference to the mid-80s probably holds the key. That time frame coincides with the Arkansas debacle, and we certainly know there was an Arkansas connection with the Chinese.
Eh?
...and we certainly know there was an Arkansas connection with the Chinese.
Probably much more than we even suspect.
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