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China's Xinjiang records more than 38,000 people with HIV/AIDS

Xinhua, November 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a region with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, recorded 38,283 HIV carriers and AIDS patients by the end of October, health authorities said Tuesday.

Sexual transmission took up more than 62 percent of the cases to become the main channel of Xinjiang's AIDS prevalence, while over 28 percent of cases were infected through intravenous drug use, the region's health and family planning commission stated ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

For decades, Xinjiang has been plagued by serious drug problems. The region lies on a trade route for illicit drugs that begins in the rich poppy fields of the so-called "Golden Crescent" area of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The prevalence of needle-sharing among drug users was previously blamed for the spike in Xinjiang's HIV/AIDS cases.

Over the past five years, the central and regional government have provided more than one billion yuan (around 156 million U.S. dollars) of funds to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Xinjiang.

Ni Mingjian, an HIV/AIDS expert with center for disease control and prevention in Xinjiang, said a total of 91 designated hospitals in the region provide anti-virus treatment, and 485 voluntary HIV counselling and test stations have been set up.

Ni said Xinjiang's 306 HIV/AIDS screening labs have screened more than five million people as of the end of October, nearly 20 percent of the region's total population.

Xinjiang has also made efforts to ensure HIV-positive patients' access to equal employment and medical treatment and to improve their life quality.

The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China hit 497,000 by the end of October 2014, with 154,000 deaths, according to official figures. Endi