HIV infection in China rises dramatically
AIDS is now the leading cause of death among infectious diseases on the mainland, as official figures showed that 7000 people had died in the first nine months of 2008 and 45 000 were infected with HIV.
The Chinese Health ministry has made tackling AIDS a priority, and has poured significant funding into prevention and education. In 2007, the government spent 944 million yuan (£95 million), including almost £7 million donated from the UK.
The disease is apparently rapidly spreading among gay men. In Chongqing, the largest city in the world with 32 million people, the data for last year showed 20 per cent of gay men have AIDS. In Chengdu, a city the size of London, the infection is predicted to hit 35 per cent by next year. In some smaller cities, the proportion has already hit 50 per cent.
According to surveys, the vast majority of Chinese gay men get married to women in order to fulfil expectations that they will have children and continue the family line. This means that the Chinese taboos over homosexuality are helping to spread the disease.
The Chinese Health ministry announced that it would target gay men at the beginning of this year and admitted that they were now the group most at risk, ahead of drug users and sex workers. It estimated that only one in ten gay men used a condom.
The United Nations AIDS programme said many men who had sex with men also had sex with women, which meant substantial numbers of women were also at risk.
