According to a survey conducted last year, a mere 8.7 percent of
the people in China know their ABCs about AIDS transmission and
prevention.
Jointly conducted by the Horizon Group and the Futures Group
Europe, the survey including a random sampling of urbanites in
seven large and medium-sized cities, including Beijing, Shanghai
and Guangzhou, and residents of small towns and villages in seven
provinces.
Respondents were asked basic true-false questions about routes
of transmission, including whether the virus can be passed from
mothers to their unborn babies, through breastfeeding, via blood
transfusion or by dining with an AIDS patient.
They were also asked whether the infection rate can be lowered
by maintaining a monogamous relationship with an AIDS-free partner,
by abstinence from sex or by using condoms during sexual
intercourse.
Concerning major channels of transmission, 25.6 percent of the
respondents offered correct answers to all four questions, while
21.4 percent responded accurately to the three questions on ways to
prevent AIDS.
Only 8.7 percent gave correct answers to all the seven
questions.
About 96.2 percent of the city dwellers had heard about AIDS,
much higher than the 82.6 percent of small-town people and the 75.1
percent of rural villagers.
For small town residents, overall knowledge about the disease in
2003 remained level with that of 2002, although awareness of its
existence inched slightly higher.
Villagers reported the least awareness of the role of condoms in
AIDS prevention. While 17 percent of urbanites realized that using
condoms can help prevent the spread of the virus, only 11.4 percent
of small town residents and a mere 5.8 percent of villagers
possessed this knowledge.
Social acceptance of HIV/AIDS sufferers declined from the
previous year, the survey showed.
Only 33.9 percent of urbanites and 19 percent of small-town
residents said that they could treat HIV/AIDS victims equally at
work, down 7.1 percent and 12 percent respectively from the
previous year.
Just 57.2 percent of urbanites and 45.0 percent of small-town
residents would be willing to care for their own HIV-positive
family members, declines of 10.8 percent and 18 percent from
2002.
Unsurprisingly, 57.2 percent of urbanites and 63.0 percent of
small-town residents hope to keep it a secret if a family member
comes down with AIDS, dropping slightly from a year earlier.
While knowledge concerning HIV/AIDS has grown noticeably among
higher officials in recent years, it is still clearly lacking among
the general public.
The AIDS virus in China is already spreading outside such
high-risk groups as intravenous drugs users.
The Ministry of Health announced last April that the government
would give free, anonymous testing and counseling to needy HIV
carriers.
Central China's Hubei
and Henan
provinces have pledged to offer free AIDS medication to all HIV
carriers. They have also dispatched officials to areas most
seriously hit by the epidemic.
The government also promised early this month to provide free
condoms to all sufferers of HIV/AIDS.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2004)