A national HIV/AIDS awareness campaign kicked off yesterday in
Beijing.
The new campaign aims to educate local officials about the
government's policies for controlling the deadly virus.
"In China HIV/AIDS control is a State activity and many
measures, from public education to medical treatment, are looked
after by governments at different levels," Deputy Health Minister
Wang Longde said.
He said because of the high level of government involvement in
the fight against the disease, it was vital local officials were
aware of their duties.
Wang's remarks came at the campaign's launch, held in the School
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Nearly 100,000 officials from 2,600 regions attended the first
two-hour training class on HIV/AIDS control, presented by Wang
through a video and television system.
About nine training groups have been established and will be
sent to different regions to teach officials about the government's
policies and urge them to do better in their daily work, said Hao
Yang, deputy director of the Department of Disease Control of the
Ministry of Health.
The groups will be made up of HIV/AIDS experts and officials
from various departments in the State Council, such as the
ministries of public security, education, and finance, said
Hao.
By the end of 2007, 90 percent of officials will have received
training from the groups.
In many parts of China officials still think the epidemic has
not yet reached them, or is not a serious threat, which is a
dangerous sign, warned Wang.
Although the epidemic is only serious in some areas such as
Henan and Yunnan provinces the virus has begun to spread from
high-risk groups to ordinary citizens throughout the country, said
Wang.
Officials are required by State regulations to learn about the
disease and improve control measures, and if their work is not good
enough they can be punished, added Wang.
In early 2003 the government started a comprehensive care
project to cope with the spread of HIV/AIDS, which includes free
testing, free anti-virus drugs for sufferers and free education for
the children of families hit by the virus.
Local governments have been asked to collaborate with the
central government to improve efforts in looking for people
infected with HIV and providing better care for sufferers.
By the end of December 2005 the nation's accumulated number of
registered HIV/AIDS cases had reached 144,089, including 8404
deaths.
But Wang said the estimated number of HIV/AIDS cases in China
was now 650,000.
(China Daily June 29, 2006)