South China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region saw the number of people
suffering from HIV/AIDS jump by more than 50 percent in 2005
despite a widespread public awareness campaign.
Last year, 8,625 new HIV/AIDS cases were reported, bringing the
total number of people infected to 20,604 at the end of 2005.
The region ranks the third nationwide as only the southwestern
province of Yunnan and the central province of Henan, having more
people with HIV/AIDS, said a source at an annual regional meeting
on AIDS prevention held on Thursday.
It also said that Guangxi reported 1,497 AIDS patients by 2005
and 103 of them died last year.
"The epidemic is spreading from the most at-risk population to
the general population as infections through unprotected sex are on
the rise," said Chen Jie, deputy director of the regional diseases
control and prevention center. He said intravenous drugs users are
still the most likely group to be infected.
Guangxi spent more than 38 million yuan (about 4.72 million US
dollars) on AIDS prevention and control last year and nearly all
its cities and counties have AIDS monitoring centers.
The Chinese Ministry of Health said in February this year that
the country reported 144,089 HIV carriers by the end of 2005.
An appraisal jointly issued by the ministry, the World Health
Organization and the United Nations AIDS Program estimated that
there are 650,000 HIV carriers, including 75,000 AIDS patients in
China.
(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2006)