Bookmarkers beware: Bookmarks to pages other than the home page may not work after we change our server in April Editor's Choice | This Week in BMJ | Press releases BMJ No 7130 Volume 316 News Saturday 14 February 1998 China recognises AIDS problem China is mounting an increasingly public fight against HIV infection and AIDS, with four ministries jointly drafting a new national prevention plan. The turn of the century is now the target for ending the transmission of HIV through blood plasma and setting up a nationwide AIDS control network. Another objective is to limit the annual increase in cases of sexually transmitted diseases to less than 15%. When HIV infection first came to China, the authorities were slow to realise the potential threat, preferring to dismiss the problem as a "foreigners' disease." There were few public information campaigns. Chinese people are more sexually active in the post-Mao era Photo: MARK HENLEY/IMPACT As the government started to learn about the pattern of infection in neighbouring countries, it began to take the subject more seriously. Shen Jie, who is in charge of HIV/AIDS control at the ministry of health, said that the new joint plan would come into effect after approval by the state council. The programme will include public information and education campaigns. China had officially recorded 8,303 cases of HIV infection by the end of October 1997, with positive tests in all but one of China's provinces. About two thirds of those infections were through intravenous drug use. However, these official statistics represent only the tip of the iceberg. The official media admit to an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 cases of HIV by the end of 1996. In January the ministry of health said that it was trying to keep the number of HIV infections below 1.5 million by 2010, but Arthur Holcombe, resident coordinator of United Nations operations in China, warned that infections could rise to more than 10 million by 2010. China is still in an early, pre-pandemic phase, say experts. But conditions are ripe for the infection. Drug dependence in the south west is rife, prostitution is thriving, and the country has a huge floating population of migrant workers. Richard Tomlinson Beijing Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline