China has always attached great importance to HIV/AIDS
prevention and treatment, and is willing to contribute to the
global fight against the deadly affliction, a senior Chinese health
official said on Monday.
Addressing the HIV/AIDS high-level meeting of the United Nations
General Assembly, Executive Vice-Minister of Health Gao Qiang said
the Chinese Government appreciates the relentless efforts and
outstanding contributions made by the United Nations in promoting
global actions against HIV/AIDS.
Gao said the Chinese Government has treated the prevention and
treatment of HIV/AIDS, a serious threat to public health and
safety, as a strategic issue for social stability, economic growth
and national prosperity and security, and has given top priority to
this endeavor.
Drawing on the experience and lessons learned in the past
decade, the Chinese public health authorities have established the
principle of focusing on prevention, integrating prevention with
treatment and adopting comprehensive measures to deal with HIV/
AIDS, he said.
The Chinese Government has also drawn up medium and long-term
strategic plans to prevent and control HIV/AIDS, while taking
actions to crack down on such criminal activities as illegal blood
collecting, smuggling, drug trafficking and prostitution, said
Gao.
Meanwhile, the central and local governments have allocated 6.8
billion yuan (US$822.2 million) to establish and improve disease
prevention and control mechanisms in various provinces, and
invested 2.25 billion yuan (US$272 million) to improve and upgrade
the blood stations in China's central and western regions.
Gao said China is now developing a nationwide HIV/AIDS
prevention and treatment mechanism featuring "government
leadership, multi-sector cooperation and public participation."
However, the minister noted that HIV/AIDS has not been brought
under effective control in China. Citing the initial analysis of a
joint HIV/AIDS epidemiological survey conducted in cooperation with
the World Health Organization (WHO) and Joint United Nations
Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), he said China has about 840,000 HIV/
AIDS infections, including 80,000 HIV/AIDS patients.
He warned that China still faces an uphill battle in its
HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, citing a big income gap among
different regions, underdevelopment in rural areas and criminal
offences like drug trafficking and prostitution that helped spread
HIV/AIDS.
(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2003)
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