BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- A newly released report on the state of HIV and AIDS in China shows the growing rate of its viral transmission, particularly among college students, as China tries to educate young people about the deadly disease.
Students from Capital Normal University gathered to learn more about HIV/AIDS. Despite being at a relatively sexually active stage, many say their knowledge of HIV/AIDS is only rudimentary.
With increasing number of young people contracting the virus in China, HIV/AIDS prevention especially among the college-educated has grown in importance and awareness.
Guidance comes from the Home of Red Ribbon in Beijing, a non-governmental organization working to provide HIV sufferers with medical care and counseling help.
The organization began A program three years ago to educate college students to develop responsible attitudes to their sexual health.
"We’ve got good feedback from the students. They knew some basic knowledge about AIDS, but they didn’t have a comprehensive understanding of it. We are trying to improve their awareness of the virus and self-protection as soon as possible," said Chen Ziliang, volunteer with Home of Red Ribbon in Bejing.
China has more than 7,000 students who are either HIV carriers or AIDS patients.
Of those cases, 87.1 percent of the were from sexual transmission, and 64.8 percent of them contracted the virus through sex with people of the same gender.
In 2013, there were only five provinces and regions that registered more than 100 student HIV cases. But this year, the number increased to 10, with Beijing becoming one of them.
Wang Kerong, head of the Home of Red Ribbon in Beijing said the main impediment to HIV prevention among the young is the lack of education.
"I realize that most of the student transmission cases were caused by unprotected intercourse between members of the same gender. They have a poor awareness of self-protection. They don’t really know about AIDS; they make friends carelessly; they do drugs. No one is telling them what to do to prevent infection when they are living by themselves in college. So more and more college students are catching the virus in Beijing," Wang said.
While many AIDS sufferers in China have prolonged their lifespan with advances in medical technology, transmission cases, especially among students, are still growing.
Wang says the biggest problem is not HIV itself. Her biggest concern is that people do not have a full understanding of the virus and do not know how they can protect themselves from it.
There are students living with HIV in colleges and universities in Beijing, and the number is rising in the city. Efforts to prevent infection by organizations such as the Home of Red Ribbon are far from enough; what really matters are awareness of self-protection, knowledge of what protection to use, and a healthy view of sex.
(Source: CNTV.com)
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