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UN predicts Chinese AIDS epidemic
( 2002-06-28 08:38 ) (8 )

China is on the verge of an HIV/ AIDS catastrophe and must act immediately to prevent unimaginable human suffering, economic loss and social devastation caused by an explosive epidemics, says a United Nations working group.

In an assessment of latest AIDS situation in China released Thursday, the group called HIV/AIDS in the world's most populous country a "Titanic peril."

The report said some significant progress had been made in China with regard to updating national policies, laws and regulations pertaining to HIV/AIDS since 1994, when the Chinese government signed the Paris Declaration at the International AIDS Summit.

The report was compiled by the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in China with the aim to "support the Chinese government and people in their efforts to prevent HIV from evolving into the horrific epidemic".

"There is a peril - an iceberg where only a small part is visible," said a UN official.

The report quoted experts as estimating that there were over one million HIV carriers in China.

But current AIDS-related data were merely the "tip of the iceberg," and far from accurately reflecting the serious threat of the future epidemic in China, the report said.

The UN group found most frequent modes of HIV transmission in 2001 remained the sharing of contaminated needles by injecting drug users and unsanitary practices during paid plasma collections.

The UN experts fear that future infections will mostly spread through sexual transmission among HIV/AIDS vulnerable people, such as the youth, women, and migrants.

"We indeed understand how serious China's HIV/AIDS situation is, as the report says," Shen Jie, director of the National Center for AIDS Prevention and Control, told Xinhua.

She said the biggest challenge at present was implementing various AIDS control strategies set by the central government.

"In this regard, we do hope to work closely with the UN organizations to raise funds, to carry out intervention programs, and to cut high prices of AIDS drugs," she said.

Emile Fox, director of the China Office of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, said the report might focus more international attention and attract more international help.

The HIV epidemic could only be curbed by joint and multi-sector efforts that involved all levels of society, the report said.

"We can still prevent the worst from happening, but time is quickly running out," it said. "Now is the time to act."