World Aids Day: Progress in China but more work needed

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There are 36.7 million people living with HIV around the world, according to UNAIDS, and the number is on the rise with 5,000 new infections in adults and children recorded every single day. The magnitude of the disease is a vivid reminder that the condition, albeit preventable, is still an urgent issue of global significance.

The battle against the disease requires concerted efforts from every individual, society and government around the world. The UNAIDS has chosen to shed the light on the “right to health” on this year's World AIDS Day – and China has already renewed its commitment to the fight.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on Thursday for better HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment as part of the “Healthy China” campaign.

Xinhua News Agency Photo

He praised the country’s efforts to keep HIV/AIDS infections at a low level, but urged government departments at all levels to invest more and "break through the bottleneck" in AIDS prevention and treatment research.

By the end of September, China had about 747,000 HIV positive people.

The central government has already spent 4.8 billion yuan this year on HIV/ AIDS control and treatment, up from the 2.77 billion yuan it invested in 2012, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).

Li called on the prevention and treatment efforts in the country to be improved, and asked for more targeted service and support to be provided for impoverished groups.

Earlier this year, China issued a Five-Year Plan on AIDs prevention, aimed at deepening health care reform and safeguarding people’s health during the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

China’s measures to offer the right tools for people to educate and protect themselves, and provide assistance to HIV positive people are already paying off.

A volunteer from Shanxi Medical University acts as an AIDS patient and asks pedestrians for a hug in order to promote AIDS/HIV awareness. /Photo via ChinaNews.com

Some 140 million people tested themselves for HIV between January and September this year, an increase of 19.6 percent from the same period in 2016.

More people are also seeking medical assistance, with the number of those undergoing treatment reaching about 542,000 by the end of June 2017. A marked decrease of mortality rate has also been recorded.

Awareness campaigns are playing a vital role in limiting the spread of the disease, but much remains to be done.

Blood-borne HIV transmission, once rampant because of illegal blood transfusions and sales or sharing of needles among drug users, is under control, and mother-to-child transmission almost eliminated.

Sex remains the main cause of transmission, accounting for 94.6 percent of all new infections registered in 2017 in China. Of these sexual transmissions, 69.2 percent of new cases were caused by heterosexual interactions, while homosexual activities were behind 25.4 percent of them.

Video edited by Wang Kailin and Zhang Xinyue. Voice actor by John Goodrich.