China
Population: 1.4 billion
People living with HIV: 740,000
People receiving ART: 65,500
The Disease
China is a low-prevalence country – 0.1% of adults have HIV – but its population, and thus its population of positive people, is large. Estimates of the number of people living with the virus may be inaccurately low due to underreporting in rural areas. While the epidemic has historically been concentrated in injecting drug users and in former blood donors and recipients, in 2007 sex overtook needles as the main means of new HIV infection for the first time.
In 2003, the Chinese government adopted the “Four Frees and One Care” program, providing free HIV treatment and testing, free schooling for children orphaned by AIDS, and care and economic assistance to affected households. Opportunistic infection treatment and testing are not free, however, and many patients drop off treatment because of the associated costs.
AHF Dr. Catherine Chien in China
AHF in China
AHF partners with Linfen Infectious Disease Hospital in Shanxi Province and with the Guangxi Provincial CDC at Nanning to provide outpatient medical care. At both sites, we provide the drugs to treat opportunistic infections that the government does not.
A large part of our work in China is in teaching best practices for HIV care. At Xinjiang Medical University, the largest HIV/AIDS treatment center in Xinjiang Province, AHF provides technical assistance and training, including clinical preceptorships, continuing medical education and a doctor exchange program. We also train local organizations and peer educators in outreach methods and drug adherence counseling.
Statistics from UNAIDS.org, 2011, unless otherwise stated.
