HIV/AIDS

Guangxi and Liuzhou HIV/AIDS statistics released

According to Nanning Evening News, Guangxi health authorities are reporting that Guangxi has 25,529 known HIV carriers, 2,388 Aids sufferers, with 298 reported deaths. The true figure is certainly much higher. They estimate that the true figure for HIV carriers is nearer 70,000.

Liuzhou is estimated to have 4,323 HIV carriers (again probably much higher). Most HIV transmission is through intravenous drug use, but is also spreading through prostitution and unsafe homosexual acts.

According to Shanghai Daily, the United Nations Population Fund and the (Chinese) State Population and Family Planning Commission are sponsoring a "100% condom usage" program in all 'entertainment venues' in Liuzhou.

28th November 2006

Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment of AIDS starts in Liuzhou

"The traditional Chinese medicine treatment of AIDS project, jointly developed by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Department of Health of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was officially launched in a hospital designated for AIDS treatment in Liuzhou recently.

It is already confirmed that 10 HIV carriers and AIDS patients have begun taking traditional Chinese medicines. About 100 HIV carriers and AIDS patients will benefit from the project in the following year.

Nanning and Baise started the project at the same time. The patients who voluntarily accept the traditional Chinese treatment will get these medicines for free.

Traditional Chinese medicine treatment of AIDS is a key scientific researching program of China. Through the traditional Chinese treatment that takes care of both inside and outside, with both strength and gentleness, the researchers hope to break through the side-effects that the Western medicines bring to the patients, to lower the expensive cost of imported medicines and to make treatments available for more HIV carriers and AIDS patients."

from People's Daily Online 15th July 2005

HIV/AIDS - Drug Abuse in Liuzhou

There is a somewhat confusing article in China Daily today (23rd February) on HIV/AIDS and drug abuse in Liuzhou.

According to the article, "...Liuzhou has, since the 1980s, become a passage for narcotics trafficking from the notorious Golden Triangle. The city has a population of 3.64 million, and now has more than 9,000 drug addicts on police record. About 21 per cent of them test positive for HIV."

These figures are somewhat at odds with those given in December in the article mentioned below.

The article also discusses HIV rates among sex workers in the city.

"Since 2000, the sexually transmitted HIV infection rate has grown from 0.5 per cent to around 9.5 per cent. For women engaged in the illegal sex business, the figure is 1.5 per cent. According to a 2002 survey, the city had about 5,000 women engaged."

If anyone can explain this, I'd be more than grateful. 9.5% of what. 1.5% of what? 5,000 women are engaged? (presumably as sex workers).

Click on the China Daily logo for the full story.

23rd February 2005

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

International charity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are working in Guangxi on HIV /AIDS treatment and prevention. They have established a clinic in Nanning in cooperation with Guangxi Health Department and the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). There is a story here from China Daily on their offering free HIV treatment to a Liuzhou man.

15th December 2004

Needle Exchange Program Flops

On the 24th of November, Southern China Daily, Liuzhou's most popular daily, announced that a needle exchange program had been established in the city the day before. This is funded by the Australian Development Agency who are donating to three countries, Burma, Vietnam and China (Guangxi and Yunnan). In addition to needle exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among intravenous drug users, there are also projects in AIDS education and awareness raising.

Liuzhou has received ¥30,850, of which 82.5% is to used directly on the needle exchange program. The newspaper reports that there are 4,900 drug users in the city, 99% of whom are heroin users. They hoped that the scheme would reach 65% of these people, 46% of whom share needles. (They give no indication as to where these figures come from. Xinhua (see below) mentions only 3,000 registered addicts in Guangxi)

On the 30th November, the same newspaper is reporting that only one man has used the service in the first week. Staff are putting on a brave face and saying that people don't yet know about the scheme, but the newspaper also mentions that most drug users wish to remain anonymous and are unlikely to come forward.

Don't Worry! You can't catch communism by shaking hands! On the 1st of December, state news agency Xinhua report the scheme but make no mention of the take-up rate. At the same time, China Daily claim that the same scheme in Ningming county on the Vietnam Border has distributed 270,000 needles since the program started and collected 250,000. Yeah!

This sudden barrage of AIDS activity, while extremely welcome, is all in aid (no pun intended) of World AIDS day, 1st December. The national press and television has been full of pictures of President Hu shaking hands with AIDS patients in Beijing. Well, they said he was an AIDS patient. Who knows?

This contrasts enormously with the situation only a year or two ago, when the subject was rarely mentioned and if so, was a foreign problem. However, they still have a long way to go! There is yet another Xinhua story here in which they are unusually frank about the number of HIV carriers in China. They actually admit that the official estimate is way too low.

updated 1st December 2004

Guangxi in HIV / AIDS Top Three

Durex Official media are reporting that Guangxi has the third highest rate of HIV infection in China (after Yunnan and Xinjiang). The People's Daily story is here. Another recent official report put the figure for Liuzhou at 841 cases. The figures issued by the authorities are widely believed to be considerably lower than the actual rate.

For a report on the AIDS crisis in China, click here.

Should you need to know, condoms (including Durex) are widely available. Jia Yong Supermarket stock them on the second floor near the top of the escalators. Note that China's State Family Planning Commission revealed last year that Chinese men buy approximately three condoms per year and 30 to 40 percent of these condoms are defective.

18th October 2003