China's HIV/AIDS 'window of opportunity'

Monday, 13 February 2012

China's HIV/AIDS 'window of opportunity'

Source: Science

4 June 2004 | EN

HIV/AIDS is finally top of the Chinese government's agenda. This year it has pledged free anti-HIV drugs and US$60 million towards AIDS prevention and control — a tripling of 2002's budget.

In this article Jon Cohen charts the changing approach to management of the disease. Efforts have intensified following China's poor handling of the SARS epidemic and revelations that thousands of poor people became infected with HIV having sold blood to companies that used unhygienic procedures.

Critically, China's epidemic is still at an early stage. But outside assessments warn of a potential disaster. And increasing heroin abuse, a thriving sex industry, 100 million migrant workers and poor awareness of disease risks in rural areas all point to major challenges ahead.

Link to full feature in Science

Reference: Science 304, 1430 (2004)

Add your comment

This is your network: share your views on any of our articles by adding your comments.

Comment

You need to be signed in to post a comment or to email a consenting comment author. Please sign in or sign up.

Email me when someone responds to the discussion

All comments are subject to approval and we reserve the right to edit comments containing inappropriate/unsuitable language. SciDev.Net holds copyright for all material posted on the website. Please see terms of use for further details.

All SciDev.Net material is free to reproduce providing that the source and author are appropriately credited. For further details see Creative Commons.

Back to Features
To the top