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 Mongolian health officials
are taking note of new statistics released about growing AIDS infections
across its border in China.
China reported 218,107 AIDS
cases by the end of August 2007, with an increase of 3,807 cases in
August, said Dai Zhicheng, director of the Chinese Association of STD
(sexually transmitted disease) & AIDS Prevention and Control.
In central Henan and southwestern
Yunnan provinces, the reported cases exceeded 30,000, Dai said at a
recent seminar to raise people's awareness of AIDS in Liaoning Province.
Some western areas, including
the Tibet Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Qinghai
Province, and northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reported less
than 2,000 infection cases, he said.
The disease is mainly transmitted
by sex and needle sharing of drug users, which account for 43.6 percent
and 44.3 percent of the total infections respectively.
The rate of HIV infections
among drug users rose from 1.95 percent in 1998 to 7.5 percent in 2006.
The rate of HIV infections among male homosexuals stayed between 1 percent
to 4 percent, according to the monitoring data obtained by Dai's association.
China's anti-AIDS efforts are
hampered by many factors, including inadequate publicity and funding,
inefficient health care facilities in rural areas and ineffective control
on floating population, said Dai.
Dai suggested compulsory urine
test be adopted to keep drug addicts clean and anti-AIDS knowledge be
made well-known among migrated population in the hope of curbing the
virus’ spread.
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