- Author
- China HIV/AIDS Socio-Economic Impact Study Team
- Title
- Limiting the Future Impact of HIV/AIDS on Children in Yunnan (China)
- In
- AIDS, Public Policy and Child Well-Being
- Editor
- Giovanni Andrea Cornia
- Imprint
- UNICEF, 2003, p. 55
- Url
- http://www.unicef-icdc.org/research/ESP/aids/chapter9.pdf
- Abstract
"China has three simultaneous HIV epidemics. In the central provinces, the main mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS is the transfusion of tainted blood and plasma products; in the coastal areas it is commercial sex; while in the west and on the border with the Golden Triangle, where the province of Yunnan is found, the infection is predominantly transmitted by intravenous drug use. In Yunnan, HIV/AIDS prevalence has been rising exponentially since 1993-94, hand in hand with sexually transmitted diseases, which facilitate the spread of infection in the general population. While the impact on children is still limited (the mother to child transmission represents a very
limited share of the total infections in the province), it is bound to rise rapidly over the next decade because of the absence of clear policy in this area. Even if the government started to recognize the potential impact of the disease, specific program activities are still lacking, social values and norms prevent the issues from being tackled openly, and a reluctant bureaucracy often conceals the problem. The weakness of the social infrastructures and of the health care system is also a factor that increases the potential impact of AIDS in the province. So far Yunnan has benefited little from the considerable experience gained in countries such as Thailand on prevention and mitigation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic."