The Chinese National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control and Prevention, said most foreign patients were no longer covered by China’s AIDS intervention system. Wu Zunyou, Head of the National Center, said on Wednesday in Beijing that the measure included a patient’s follow-up monitoring network and free antiviral medication He said this had become imperative due to limited funding, therefore, the government’s anti-AIDS efforts, particularly free medication, would focus only on Chinese citizens.Zunyou said investigations revealed that majority of expatriates with HIV/AIDS are aged between 20 and 45 and they lived in Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian provinces and Beijing. “Not less than half of them became infected through heterosexual activities. “The second leading cause was intravenous drug use,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Zhao Yan, a HIV/AIDS Treatment Specialist at the national center, said foreigners confirmed to have HIV must pay for their own treatment. He said that there are exceptions in Yunnan, a province with nearly half of the total foreigners with the disease.
Yan said most of them are coming from neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam.He said the latest census conducted in 2010, showed that more than 600,000 foreigners were living on the Chinese mainland.(Xinhua/NAN)
Source: Leadership Online
