HIV/AIDS in China

(Beijing, China) Frankly, I tend to believe that these numbers are low and wouldn't be surprised if the actual number infected were ten times or more higher. Call it an innate mistrust of official ChiCom data.

The number of HIV positive people in China probably stands at around 740,000, up from the estimated 700,000 who had the virus in 2007, the country's health minister said Tuesday.

Sex between men is now one of the main reasons for the spread of the disease, said Chen Zhu.

As of Oct 31, China had recorded 319,877 HIV infections, 102,323 of which had developed into AIDS. China has had 49,845 AIDS deaths since it detected its first HIV infection in 1985, Chen said during the 5th Conference of International Cooperation Programmes on HIV/AIDS in China.

Chen said experts predict there will be 48,000 new infections in 2009, compared to 50,000 in 2007.

Of the new infections, sexual transmissions will account for more than 70 percent of cases. Some 42.2 percent will come from heterosexual transmission. The number was 44.7 percent in 2007.

Chen said there had been a dramatic increase in the number of HIV infections resulting from homosexual encounters. Those infections now account for 32.5 percent of transmissions. They only accounted for 12.2 percent in 2007.

China's gay population is estimated at 5-10 million.

Interestingly, the homosexual population in China is officially estimated to be 0.75 percent or less of all Chinese (10 million divided by 1.338 billion). Percentage estimates in Western countries run several times higher.

Nevertheless, to counter the increase in HIV/AIDS patients the ChiCom government plans to step up education and public awareness efforts.