In recent years, a new awareness has emerged in
China about the threat that HIV/AIDS poses to the population.
Increasing numbers of people are identified as carrying the HIV virus.
According to recent official figures (2003), some 840,000 persons have
tested positive for HIV, and about ten percent
of them have progressed to AIDS. Others, however, insist that the
actual number of those infected might be twice as high. Although HIV
still is concentrated among intravenous drug users (51 percent) and
people who have become infected through unhygienic blood donations in
the 1990s (21 percent), the pattern of transmission of the virus is
beginning to change. HIV infection by sexual transmission in particular
is sharply on the increase, particularly among women. A number of
reasons can be identified for this development. First, a general lack
of awareness exists in China.
Education and information about prevention measures is lacking.
Secondly, the number of intravenous drug users, sharing needles, is
growing. Thirdly, commercial sex is on the rise in China, while condom
use remains low. Other factors include unsafe medical conditions and
procedures and inadequate blood safety. The huge numbers of peasants
moving to the cities looking for work also pose a serious problem.
The SARS-crisis in
2003 seems to have made China more aware of the dangers and risks of
contagious diseases. Aside from taking various concrete measures to
structurally improve prevention, identification and treatment of
HIV/AIDS, the government has decided to step up its HIV/AIDS-related
educational work. This takes place on a number of levels, ranging from
propaganda drives to a widely publicized meeting of Premier Wen Jiabao
with HIV-positive patients on 1 December 2003. An example of the
HIV/AIDS awareness drive that has been started is the poster above,
published as a collaborative project by the Ministry of Health and the
Durex Company. It features the movie star Pu Cunxin, who graduated from
the Central Academy of Drama and who has appeared in various
productions by the Beijing People's Art Theater. Pu has not only
endorsed the HIV/AIDS awareness 2003 campaign, but has also supported
blood donation drives. Materials like these posters could be seen all
over urban China in 2003-2004.
But Pu's efforts precisely point to one of the main
problems of all these educational activities: the majority of the
population is not reached. Moreover, many concrete problems in the
implementation of the various government initiatives continue to exist.
Sources:
China Ministry of Health & UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in China, China Responds to AIDS - HIV/AIDS Situation & Needs Report (November 1997)
Bates Gill, J. Stephen Morrison, Drew Thompson (eds), Defusing China's Time Bomb—Sustaining the Momentum of China's HIV/AIDS Response
(Washington: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2004)
s.r.landsberger@let.leidenuniv.nl
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