China opened 206 methadone clinics between July and September
this year bringing the total to 307 in a bid to curb the spread of
HIV/AIDS through contaminated needles used by
drug addicts, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.
Forty-four percent of an estimated 650,000 Chinese people living
with HIV/AIDS are drug users, according to a report released by the
ministry earlier this year.
Methadone is widely used as a substitute for heroin to help
addicts kick their habit.
Wu Zunyou, an official at the Chinese Center for Diseases
Control and Prevention, said China opened the 307 clinics three
months ahead of the schedule.
He said that the swift establishment of the clinic could reduce
the intake of heroin by over 1,000 kilograms.
The methadone treatment program, which was initiated in 2003,
now covers about two thirds of all China's 31 provinces, autonomous
regions and municipalities. At the clinics, a cup of methadone
drink usually costs 10 yuan (US$1.26).
Wu said China plans to set up methadone clinics in all its
cities and counties which have over 500 registered drug users by
the end of 2007.
Health experts said that the initiative can help to rein in drug
use and stop HIV infections being transferred from high-risk drug
users to the general population.
To curb the rising HIV infection rate nationwide, the Chinese
central and local governments more than doubled funds for
prevention and treatment to 1.08 billion yuan (US$136.5 million) in
2005 from 490 million yuan (US$61.9 million) in 2003.
According to the United Nations AIDS agency UNAIDS, around 65
million people worldwide have been infected with HIV and AIDS has
killed more than 25 million since it was first recognized in
1981.
(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2006)