Hong Kong and Guangdong have agreed to increase joint
efforts to stop the spread of AIDS after the neighbors each
reported record numbers of new HIV cases last year.
Hong Kong's Department of
Health revealed that the special administrative region (SAR)
reported 373 new cases of HIV in 2006, up 19 percent on the 313
cases in the previous year. The number of new cases has grown
steadily from 213 in 2001 and 268 in 2004.
In Guangdong Province, 4,823 new HIV cases were
recorded between January and October last year, up 8.4 percent on
the corresponding period in 2005, sources from the Guangdong
Provincial Health Department said.
"As many of the new cases were a result of sexual
activity, we will work with the Hong Kong health department to
launch a series of education campaigns to increase public
awareness," said Yu Dewen, a spokesman for the Guangdong health
authority.
As part of a coordinated surveillance and prevention
scheme signed in early 2003, information on new HIV cases is
released every two months to the public by both sides.
Guangdong currently has 145
hospitals that offer medical checkups and treatment for people with
HIV from both Guangdong and Hong Kong.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong health authority said
the two sides had previously released an educational film, "Love
Under the Sun", which was produced by renowned moviemaker Johnnie
To.
He said the department was also using the HIV
epidemiology electronic platform, which was set up with 13 cities
in the Pearl River Delta region, to track and monitor the HIV
situation there.
Microbiologist Lo Wing-lok from Hong Kong said both
the SAR and the Guangdong government should join hands to speed up
their education campaigns.
"The public must be made aware that AIDS is a serious
disease that can leave them unable to work and puts a heavy burden
on their families. They should also know that the medicines used to
treat the disease have side effects," he said.
But Lo said more proactive measures should also be
taken, including giving free checkups to Hong Kong men on the
mainland and to prostitutes in Hong Kong.
"In the past, all prostitutes, regardless of whether
they were from the mainland or not, could enjoy free medical checks
for HIV. But the SAR government recently changed the policy and now
demands that non-residents pay the full cost of the service, which
is almost HK$1,000," Lo said.
"This discourages the prostitutes from having regular
checkups and therefore creates a greater public health risk," he
said.
(China Daily March 21,
2007)
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