AIDS Over Asia.An international conference on HIV/ AIDS held in Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. in late December 2000 strongly confirms the findings reported in the January/February issue of WORLD WATCH, which went to press two weeks earlier. The WORLD WATCH article ("AIDS Has Arrived in India and China," by Ann Hwang) noted that "Without decisive action, ... 10 million people in China could be infected with HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. by 2010." At the 7th Western Pacific Conference on Chemotherapy and Infectious Diseases in Hong Kong, Dr. Yiming Shao of China's National Center for AIDS Prevention and Control repeated this prognostication without the same qualifier. "Our best scientific guess," he said, "is that by 2010 we will have 10 million cases." Confidence in the efficacy of decisive preventive action, or at least in the kind of action taken so far, may be waning. At the same conference, according to Reuters Medical News, Dr. Aixia Wang of Peking Union Medical Hospital in Beijing reported that Chinese measures to stop the spread of HIV do not appear to be succeeding. She noted that while condom use is widely practiced in China, it is promoted for family planning family planning Use of measures designed to regulate the number and spacing of children within a family, largely to curb population growth and ensure each family’s access to limited resources. purposes, not for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted diseases Infections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely . As noted by Reuters, "Community groups organize condom education programs for newlyweds, but Dr. Wang said that she doubts whether these schemes reach the population where the prevention of HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is needed." |
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