A Renmin University-run, UNAIDS-sponsored survey on AIDS in China was just completed last week, and some of the results were very surprising:
- 30 percent said children suffering from HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to attend school
- 65 percent were not willing to stay in the same room as a sufferer
- 48 percent would not share a meal
- 48 percent thought they could contract HIV from a mosquito bite
- 18 percent thought they could contract HIV by having an HIV positive person sneeze or cough on them
- 30 percent did not know how to use a condom correctly
Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer, UNAIDS China Country Coordinator, said of the report, “These data are really a cause for concern. We see that there are still many misconceptions around AIDS in the population, which contribute to stigma and discrimination...Though people know that HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex many still do not protect themselves with a condom when engaging in risk behaviour.”
HIV-positive South African Justice Edwin Cameron also spoke on the survey in Beijing, adding that “the Chinese government has a good treatment program. But there is a disturbing pattern here: 35-40,000 people in China are receiving antiviral treatment but more than double that number need treatment.”
According to UNAIDS, approximately 700,000 Chinese live with HIV, and it's estimated that 85,000 of them have developed AIDS. Last year alone, 50,000 new infections occurred and an estimated 20,000 died as a result. The number one cause of HIV infections in China is sexual transmission.
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it would be better if you used the term "people living with HIV/AIDS" rather than sufferers. calling HIV-infected people sufferers adds an unconscious and unnecessary amount of pity or stigma to people who are living with this disease.
People should also know that even intimate contact, done with safety in mind, is possible. I know a couple, one HIV+ the other negative, who have had a very satisfying sex life together, but the negative partner remains negative.
Education and understanding is the key. Even in the USA there is still a lot of ignorance, however.