A national HIV/AIDS awareness campaign got underway
yesterday in Beijing.
The new campaign aims to educate local officials about the
government's policies for controlling the deadly virus.
"In China HIV/AIDS control is a State activity and many
measures, from public education to medical treatment, are looked
after by governments at different levels," Deputy Health Minister
said Wang Longde.
He said because of the high level of government involvement in
the fight against the disease it was vital local officials were
aware of their duties.
Wang's remarks came at the campaign launch in the School of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Nearly 100,000 officials from 2,600 regions attended the first
two-hour training class on HIV/AIDS control presented by Wang
through a video and television system.
About nine training groups have been established and will be
sent to different regions to teach officials about the government's
policies and urge them to do better in their daily work, said Hao
Yang, deputy director of the Department of Disease Control of the
Ministry of Health.
The groups will be made up of HIV/AIDS experts and officials
from various departments in the State Council such as the
ministries of public security, education and finance, added Hao. By
the end of 2007 it was expected that 90 percent of officials will
have received training from the groups.
In many parts of China officials still thought the virus had not
yet reached them or was not a serious threat and that was a
dangerous sign, warned Wang.
Although the disease is only serious in some areas such as Henan and Yunnan provinces the virus has begun to spread
from high-risk groups to ordinary citizens throughout the country,
said Wang.
Officials were required by State regulations to learn about the
disease, improve control measures and if their work wasn't good
enough they could be punished, added Wang.
In early 2003 the government started a comprehensive care
project to cope with the spread of HIV/AIDS. It includes free
testing, free anti-virus drugs for sufferers and free education for
the children of families hit by the virus.
Local governments have been asked to collaborate with the
central government to improve efforts in identifying people
infected with HIV/AIDS and providing them with better care.
By the end of December 2005 the nation's number of registered
HIV/AIDS cases had reached 144,089. The virus has resulted in 8404
deaths.
Wang said the estimated number of HIV/AIDS cases in China was
now 650,000.
(China Daily June 29, 2006)