The United Nations Children's Fund, the Chinese Ministry of Health and the Henan Provincial Health Department have recently decided to start the project of obstructing the spread of Mother-baby AIDS virus in Shihe District in Xinyang City and Shangcai County in Zhumadian City of Henan Province in order to provide a scientific basis for making a guide to preventing the spread of Mother-baby AIDS virus in China through the practice and research of the project.

Mother-baby AIDS virus' spreading has been regarded as one of the main channels for the fatal disease. AIDS infection seriously hit Henan Province around 1995, essentially spreading among the villagers who sold blood to illegal blood collection stations set up by profiteers. After 1995, Henan Province has taken stern action against the black-market business and has thus effectively restrained the AIDS virus spreading. However, a relevant survey shows that Mother-baby and husband-wife AIDS infectious victims have been successively found among the AIDS carriers infected around 1995. In a bid to check the dissemination, the UN Children's Fund and the Chinese Ministry of Health have decided to start the project to obstruct the spread of Mother-baby AIDS virus and, with which as a breakthrough point, to promote the full-scale development of the work of controlling the spread of AIDS virus.

Related information shows that five kind of people are designated as targets in this project: pregnant women who donated blood around 1995; whose husband donated blood around 1995; who have had multiple sex partners; whose family members are HIV carriers and who are possible to have been infected in operation and blood transfusion. The project requires the counties and villages to set up consultation networks and to provide professional training for medical and family planning staff. Additionally, detailed arrangements have been made for the discovery of and report on the targeted group of people; examination of AIDS antibody; medical care of HIV pregnant women and their new-born babies; prevention of virus infection of new--born babies and random survey on AIDS virus infected pregnant and lying-in women.

(People's Daily October 29, 2001)