China: College Students to Teach Farmers AIDS Lessons

This summer, many Chinese farmers will have a chance to learn about something they may have never heard about but that could be spreading among them. That thing, called "ai zi bing" in Chinese, is AIDS. Students from medical schools on summer break will go to the countryside of ten provinces in western and central China to teach farmers how they can stay safe by taking some preventive measures. The students plan to give lectures, show videos, and hand out pamphlets to rural residents.

China's public health and education authorities believe the college students can play a role in educating the public in how to prevent HIV/AIDS, which is silently spreading in the country. Chinese experts estimate HIV infections are about 850,000, among which some 80,000 to 100,000 people have developed AIDS.

"[The majority] of HIV carriers and AIDS patients live in rural areas. But their knowledge about AIDS prevention and relevant laws are very insufficient," said Xiao Donglou, an official with the Ministry of Health. He said people with little HIV/AIDS awareness connect the disease with death and stigma, and so many avoid and discriminate against those with HIV/AIDS.

The ministry's statistics show that shared syringes among injection drug users caused 68 percent of HIV cases, while illegal plasma buying using non-sterile equipment during the mid-1990s caused 9.7 percent of the HIV cases. In the undeveloped western part of China, most HIV/AIDS cases are among drug users.

China's five-year national plan on HIV/AIDS prevention and control aims to raise the proportion of urban residents who are aware of AIDS prevention to 75 percent, and in rural areas up to 45 percent.

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