BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
announced here on Thursday that it has promised to contribute 50 million U.S.
dollars over the next five years for the establishment of a cooperation program
with China to enhance the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.
The program will focus on high-risk groups in entertainment venues, mainly
men who have sex with men (MSM), prostitutes and drug users, according to Hao
Yang, deputy director of the disease prevention and control bureau under China's
Ministry of Health (MOH).
Hao, also chief of the program, said at the launch ceremony that it will be
carried out in 13 large-and medium-sized cities and one Chinese province. The
cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Harbin, Shenyang, Xi'an,
Qingdao, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Kunming, Guangzhou and Hainan province.
According to recent research on MSM, prevalence of HIV/AIDS among this
group in China is getting serious with the infection rate reaching 2.5 percent
to 6.5 percent.
More than 50 percent of MSM have several sexual partners while only 10
percent to 20 percent use condoms. Some even have girlfriends or are married to
females.
"We can afford no delay in allocating related policies and measures to
control the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in China," said Hao, promising that China
would spare no effort to support the program's implementation. "The support by
the Gates Foundation is quite necessary and timely."
According to Ray Yip, the country representative for China of the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, the new program will focus primarily on two major
areas -- one is in reducing risky behavior of those in high-risk groups, and the
other is to minimize the chance of HIV transmission for those who are HIV
positive.
The number of HIV/AIDS sufferers in China was estimated to be 650,000,
according to the last major survey in 2005 by the Ministry of Health, Joint
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and World Health Organization (WHO). The
actual number is thought to be much higher.
