China Says the Number of Its People Infected With AIDS Virus to Reach 1 Million by End of Year

The number of people in China infected with HIV will soar to 1 million by the end of this year, but the rate of new infections seems to be falling, a Health Ministry official said Friday. Previously, China estimated 850,000 infections at the end of last year, though health officials have confirmed only 30,736 cases. Friday's announcement was the highest estimate given yet by the Chinese government.

While the number of infected people jumped 58 percent from 2000 to 2001, the rate of increase this year dropped to 16.7 percent, said Qi Xiaoqiu, director general of the ministry's Department of Disease Control. Qi gave no explanation for the reported fall in the rate of new infections. But he noted government efforts to supply low-cost treatment and clean up an unsanitary blood-buying industry blamed for infecting thousands of rural villagers. Nevertheless, he said, China could have as many as 10 million people with HIV by 2010 "if we don't do our jobs well."

Qi said the government figure on infected people was based on information from local authorities and 148 research centers nationwide run by the Health Ministry. Foreign health experts have questioned China's official AIDS figures. They say that among other failings, local officials are avoiding testing high-risk people in order to meet targets for holding down the number of reported cases.

Qi said government research showed that 68 percent of Chinese with HIV became infected by sharing contaminated needles. In poor rural areas, however, infection was mainly through unsanitary blood-buying methods. He said such cases accounted for about 10 percent of infections. The government recently began treating patients with a domestically produced version of AZT. Ten more Chinese firms have applied for permission to make generic AIDS drugs and might be producing them by the end of the year, Qi said. Foreign pharmaceutical companies have cut the cost of drugs sold in China from 130,000 yuan ($16,000) annually to about 30,000 yuan ($4,000), he said, still far more than most Chinese could pay. China is trying to negotiate further discounts, he said.

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