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>

> HIV/AIDS Knowledge in China Increasing Dramatically in Rural Areas

>

> HONOLULU (Aug. 2) -- Basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS is improving dramatically

> in China where the government has distributed information on the epidemic,

> especially in rural areas, a study co-authored by an East-West Center

> specialist shows.

>

> In a survey of seven pilot sites in the Eastern half of China where

> HIV/AIDS information was distributed by the Chinese government, basic

> knowledge about major modes of HIV transmission and ways of prevention in

> rural areas increased from 2 percent in the year 2000 to 39 percent in

> 2003. In urban areas, it increased from 11 percent to 45 percent,

> according to the study conducted by Jiajian Chen, a senior research fellow

> at the East-West Center, and Shengli Chen and Shikun Zhang of China's

> National Population and Family Planning Commission. The study was based on

> responses from 7,053 men and women ages 15-49 for the baseline survey in

> 2000 and 6,912 men and women at the same ages three years later.

>

> By 2005 China plans to increase basic knowledge of HIV/STDs prevention and

> voluntary blood donation to 45 percent of the rural population, 75 percent

> of the urban population, and more than 80 percent among the high-risk

> populations. According to the China Centers for Disease Control, the three

> major HIV infection modes in China are needle sharing among intravenous

> drug users (62 percent), unsafe blood collection (9 percent) and sexual

> transmission (8 percent).

>

> Chinese and United Nations health officials estimate China had 840,000

> people living with HIV/AIDS in 2003, among whom 80,000 are AIDS patients.

>

> During the same period of 2000-2003, the survey shows that

> HIV/AIDS-related stigma toward people living with HIV/AIDS decreased in

> the rural pilot sites from 43 percent to 24 percent but increased slightly

> in urban pilot sites from 48 percent to 49 percent. The study says the

> results in the urban areas are likely due in part to the effect of social

> environments beyond the individual levels of knowledge.

>

> "Basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS is improving dramatically, especially in

> rural areas," the study says. "The IEC program (Information, Education and

> Communications) has substantial impact on increasing HIV/AIDS-related

> knowledge."

>

> The study recommends that the IEC information program on HIV/AIDS be

> expanded in China.

>

> Jiajian Chen can be reached at (808)944-7426 or chenj@eastwestcenter.org

>

>

> East-West Center publications on HIV/AIDS in the Asia Pacific:

>

> 1. "HIV/AIDS Awareness Is Improving in China," by Chen Shengli, Zhang

> Shikun, and Sidney B. Westley. Asia-Pacific Population & Policy, April

> 2004, No. 69, 4 pp. Free PDF file:

> http://www.eastwestcenter.org/res-rp-publicationdetails.asp?pub_ID=1474&Se

> archString=

>

> 2. "Tackling the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Asia," by Tim Brown. Asia-Pacific

> Population & Policy, January 2004, No. 68, 4 pp. Free PDF file:

> http://www.eastwestcenter.org/res-rp-publicationdetails.asp?pub_ID=1447&Se

> archString=