The Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region in southwest China has designated 95
local hospitals as HIV treatment sites, the first such practice in
the region, local sources said on Monday.
Free anti-viral treatments will be offered to some 10,000 to
20,000 local HIV carriers in the coming five to ten years, said an
official with the Guangxi regional disease prevention and control
center.??
Guangxi's first HIV carrier was detected in 1996, and by 2004,
the autonomous region had reported 11,012 people infected with HIV
and recorded 80 AIDS deaths.???
The official said that more HIV carriers had come to hospitals
for treatment in the past years, a signal of high incidence of HIV
infection. He also noted that most HIV carriers didn't seek medical
treatment until they were already in serious
condition.??
Fifteen out of the 95 hospitals designated to offer AIDS
treatment are city-level hospitals, while the other 80 are
county-level ones.??
According to official figures, China now has some 840,000 HIV
carriers. The country began its first human trials of a new AIDS
vaccine on March 12 this year in Guangxi.
(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2005)