China to have 1.2m HIV-positive people by the end of 2015

New Delhi, Dec 04 (ANI): A report scheduled for formal release in the first half of next year has revealed that China will have about 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2015.

China already has 740,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers on the mainland and sex has become the major reason for the transmission, reports the China Daily.

"Given that reality, limiting new HIV infections in the next five years to no more than 500,000 is an arduous task and requires highly effective interventions. Because we can't prohibit the sufferers from having sex," said Wang Ning, deputy director of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention.

That's pretty hard for the general public, let along vulnerable groups like sex workers, who on average meet thousands of clients a year, he added.

According to China's Action Plan to Prevent and Control HIV/AIDS (2011-2015), despite a low prevalence nationwide, the epidemic is rising sharply among high-risk groups like gay men and sex workers.

At present, unprotected sex is rampant and even among those covered by intervention programs only about 72 percent use protective measures like condoms.

To better deliver consulting and medication, health authorities will try to detect as many of the infected as possible and thereafter HIV screening will be expanded to grassroots medical institutions where the technology for quick tests will be adopted. (ANI)