Is China Hiding A Massive Aids Crisis?
February 22, 2006 (6 Responses)
FEARS OF A HIDDEN AIDS EPIDEMIC in China are on the rise according to AIDS activists. Specifically, blood for transfusions in China is still not routinely tested for HIV/AIDS despite a legal requirement to do so. Political sensitivity and social stigma still surround AIDS in China, and the government’s slowness to acknowledge the epidemic contributed to its spread, especially in the central province of Henan, where in the 1990s millions sold blood to unsanitary clinics.
Last year, the government said it would severely punish those responsible for serious diseases transmitted by transfusions. The move followed several cases in which people were infected after receiving blood sold by HIV carriers; however there’s been no official statement about blood transfusions or the blood products-related AIDS epidemic.
There were about 25,000 deaths from AIDS across China in 2005. It is currently estimated by the Chinese government that approximately 650,000 people across the country are infected with AIDS. This number is significantly lower than previous estimates – fuelling suspicions that the government are trying to play it down. Consider that the UN was at one point estimating that by 2010 there could be between 10 and 15 million cases of HIV in China – and you get some idea of the potential gap between reality and what the governenment wants to believe.
Given the Chinese desire to promote and maintain censorship within their borders it is not exactly a surprise to learn they are potentially keeping their citizens in the dark about the spread and impact of AIDS in their own country, but what does surprise me is the potential size of the problem and how big it could become if not addressed. Wake up China, the world is watching.
everyone knows they would love to ditch a couple million people.
A horribe thought Rev, but a valid one I think.
I know there’s an international law regarding the testing of donated blood. Because of the high risk of AIDS, gay people of America are not allowed to donate their blood. I think this is some type of discrimination but they are calling it “playing safe”. Safe or not, the thing is they test every ounce of blood that enters a hospital. How can Chinese doctors not test the blood and risk an aids epidemic?
You really have to go there to understand just how different China is to the rest of the world. Until I’d been to Japan I thought China was the strangest place on the planet, but in fairness once you experience Japan there is no way back.
Rules, laws, policies and implementation of all three in China just don’t always add up or make sense to us in the west, and that’s because the politics that drive decisions over there are just as strong as the politics that drive some whacky decisions and laws in the USA.
It be overstate.I am a chinese.I am very safe.
Fear of massive AID crisis in China. Really it is a dangerous sight.Awareness is needed in context with China.