The eastern China province of Jiangsu
is conducting HIV testing of people who have sold blood since 1990,
according to the provincial disease control center.
The province also ordered testing of the spouses and children of
previous blood sellers who were found HIV positive.
A senior official at the center said on Monday that some people
believed to have been infected with HIV when selling blood have yet
to be traced.
Municipal governments will be responsible for testing registered
local residents, while migrants will be tested at the disease
control center of the county or city where they work.
By the end of June 2004, Nanjing, the provincial capital, had
identified 165 HIV-positive people, 48 of whom had full-blown
AIDS.
China passed a law in August 2004 prohibiting the purchase and
sale of blood in a bid to stem its growing AIDS epidemic. It was
the first time the disease has been targeted in a law.
The Ministry of Health has confirmed that 840,000 people in
China are HIV-positive and 80,000 have full-blown AIDS. It
estimates that the actual figure may be closer to 1 million.
But the World Health Organization fears the number of people
currently infected may already be as high as 1.5 to 2.0 million.
The WHO and UN Program on AIDS have warned that the number could
climb as high as 10 to 15 million by 2010 if the epidemic goes
unchecked.
As part of its effort to check the spread of the disease, China
has made HIV/AIDS education compulsory from junior middle school to
college nationwide.
China also launched pilot clinics last year to provide methadone
maintenance therapy to intravenous drug users and programs to
promote the use of condoms at hotels, colleges and nightclubs.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn March 21, 2005)