AFP reported that the Chinese government plans to carry out the first ever nationwide survey on the sale of blood and HIV/Aids: “The Ministry of Health issued an order Wednesday requesting provinces and cities throughout China carry out a comprehensive search to ‘fully grasp’ who sold blood and test them for the HIV virus. ‘Not one person should be missed,’ said a notice posted on the ministry website. It added that the survey comes at a time when the country’s AIDS situation is ‘critical’… China says it has an estimated 840,000 HIV/AIDS patients, of which some 20 percent are believed to have been infected through unsanitary and often illegal blood buying schemes. International activists say the real figure is probably much higher. ” The full article is here.
Meanwhile, basketball star Yao Ming is slated to begin starring in a campaign to raise awareness of Aids. Read the full story here.
For more background and documents in China’s AIDS epidemic, see the China Aids Survey site.
