Hope for millions

After years of denying the problem existed, the central government faces a daunting task in trying to bring HIV and Aids under control. But, commendably, a start has been made, giving a glimmer of hope to the uncounted millions of mainland victims.

Until its first campaign in 1998, there was virtually nothing for the affected to look forward to except physical deterioration and death. But stronger measures are now necessary, as much because of corruption as through ignorance of the disease. Health officials estimate that about 600,000 carry the HIV virus.

But doctors on the spot believe there could be one million in Henan province alone. There it was spread through infected blood supplies in the early 1990s when biomedical companies started collecting blood from impoverished peasants. Plasma was extracted from the blood and the pooled supply then transfused back to the donors. With hungry people eager to sell, the lucrative trade fell prey to corruption. Even when it became obvious that donors fell sick, unscrupulous cadres and doctors covered up the facts and went on making money.

Although that has largely been halted, persuading people to donate blood on a voluntary basis will not be easy. But if the central authorities can override provincial officials to ensure that Aids publicity penetrates areas where literacy levels are low, the goal of cleaning up blood supplies by 2005 may just be achievable.

Setting up clinics to offer treatment and counseling will remove some of the discrimination which HIV and Aids victims experience. It will also alert adults to the danger of unprotected sex, and drug addicts to the risks of using and sharing infected needles. Prostitution and drug addiction are the other main causes of the mainland's HIV problem, but infected blood is said to have caused 72 percent of cases.

With the backing of mass media, and 100 million yuan annually poured into prevention and control, China has finally found the will to face up to the epidemic. But it should support lone campaigners like Dr. Gao Yaojie, the selfless and brave 74-year- old gynecologist persecuted and prevented from working by cadres in Henan. In any other country, the pioneering medic would be recruited into government service, where her experience and dedication could be used to full advantage. The more Dr. Gaos China can find, the faster this epidemic can be brought under control.

-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong