China may be on brink of 'explosive' AIDS epidemic

BEIJING -- Authorities scoffed when the United Nations warned in June that 10 million Chinese would be infected with AIDS by 2010. They called the findings unreliable and the authors biased.

But in the five months since, the figure has gained credibility among officials and in state media, giving the impression that China is taking its AIDS problem seriously at last, after years of ignoring it.

On Saturday, the eve of World AIDS Day, the 10 million figure appeared in an editorial in the official China Daily, which called it "the harshest assessment and sternest warning ever given." There are now believed to be about 1 million people infected with AIDS in China.

"The fight against HIV/ AIDS has gone beyond the confines of hospitals and clinics," the English-language paper said. "It is now a delicate social issue that needs joint efforts from all sectors of society."

That stance is a marked change from China's position in June, when it all but rejected the United Nations report. The report said the country of 1.3 billion people was on the brink of an "explosive" AIDS epidemic and wasn't doing enough to prevent it.

In another sign of Beijing's new stance, an event on AIDS will be held Sunday at the Great Hall of the People, where the government's most important political ceremonies are held. Officials from the Health Ministry and other government and Communist Party departments are to attend.

Sympathy for victims

Newspapers have carried articles highlighting AIDS's spread all week, profiling children with the disease. The articles seek sympathy instead of condemnation, and dozens of articles have chronicled a woman from southern China who was the first known HIV victim allowed to marry.

Elsewhere, rallies and exhibitions have been organized to raise awareness. Well-known singers and actors have signed up as spokesmen.

About 500 college students wearing yellow jackets turned out Saturday in Beijing for an AIDS awareness bike ride organized by the Red Cross.

"HIV/AIDS is by far the biggest natural disaster hitting China now," Red Cross regional director Richard Grove-Hill told riders outside the city's soccer stadium.

Riders took an oath to "be the army to fight the battle against AIDS," and biked through the heart of Beijing to historic Beihai Park.

"I just think AIDS is an enormous danger to China and we have to let more people know about the disease and how to prevent it," said Yang Yanjun, a student at Beijing Science and Engineering University. A pennant reading "The truth about AIDS, pass it on," was tied to the handlebars of his blue mountain bike.

In its editorial, China Daily said more such work is needed.

"Much-vaunted education campaigns have failed to change the fact that many ... still lack knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and this is fueling the spread of the virus," the English-language paper said.

Indifference persists in many rural areas, where corruption and mismanagement have allowed the disease to spread.

Though AIDS in China has been spread mostly by sharing needles for injecting drugs, thousands of other people have been infected through unsanitary blood-buying rings. Operators, who in some cases had backing from local health officials, reinjected sellers with pooled blood after removing the plasma, making it possible for an infected person to pass the virus to dozens of others.