The United States has promised to invest 15 million yuan (about
US$1.8 million) in central China's Henan
Province within five years to help deal with AIDS. The program,
part of the Global AIDS Program/China, is sponsored by the US
government and implemented by the US Center for Disease Control and
Prevention.
US Ambassador to China, Clark Randt, launched the program at
Wenlou village, Henan province on Friday. Randt said the launching
of the GAP program in Henan is particularly significant, because
Henan is one of the provinces hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS
epidemic.
Henan health authorities welcome the assistance, saying
technological support and staff training are what they need
most.
According to the provincial Health Bureau, the first HIV/AIDS
case in Henan was reported in 1995. By the end of March 2004, the
number jumped to more than 14,000. Most of the people became
infected through illegal or inappropriate blood collection during
the mid-1990s.
Wenlou, a hardest hit village in Henan Province has come to
symbolize China's struggle with AIDS.
The disease has affected every family here: many people are HIV
positive, some have lost family members and all of them have lost
friends.
In 2003, the provincial government sent 76 officials to the
worst affected areas. Chen Ruijin, one of them, is now responsible
for overseeing AIDS related projects in the village. Under Chen's
direction, a new clinic has been built.
"Infrastructure projects like this are playing a key role in
increasing the desire of the villagers for a better life", Chen
said
The provincial government set itself the goal of providing each
AIDS affected village in Henan with five basic needs: a paved road,
a well, a school, an orphanage and a clinic. Local officials say
the government could spend as much as US$1 million renovating the
village.
This brand new road used to be a dirt track. On the day we
visited, the villagers were celebrating the opening of the new
clinic. Most of these young women are HIV positive.
A villager said, "I like these changes, and happy to see the new
roads and clinics in the village."
But not everyone is happy.
There is a woman argues with Chen, telling him as an official
you have to take better care of the poorer residents. They are
arguing over the new houses, and who should get them first.
It's not an easy choice. The village is extremely poor, and much
work still needs to be done. Cheng Yanshang and his wife Wei Pan
are both HIV positive. They caught the disease selling blood in the
1990s. Now they are growing weaker. But they have no-one to help
them on the land.
Villagers agree that the new clinic and other projects are
necessary. But they feel more could be done.
A villager named Meng Jieshi said that there were so many AIDS
patients that they had only ourselves to rely on. Meng believes the
next step for Wenlou should be a business, something the villagers
feel is their own, a way forward that will help them better
themselves. The government has allocated US$10 million to fight
AIDS in Henan. But the changes in Wenlou should only be the
beginning.
To shed its reputation as a notorious AIDS village, officials in
Wenlou are trying to recreate it as a pioneer in the fight against
AIDS. But villagers here continue to die, and they are demanding
the government do more to help them.
Official figures show that the estimated number of HIV carriers
in China is 840,000, among whom 80,000 are patients.
(CCTV May 30, 2004)