A new scheme has been launched to help stem the growing number
of HIV infections in east China's Zhejiang Province.
As part of their ongoing job training, officials from all
government departments will be lectured on how to prevent and treat
HIV and AIDS within the community.
The requirement came from Zhejiang's new regulation on AIDS
prevention and treatment, which was passed by the provincial
People's Congress.
"AIDS prevention and treatment requires effort from top to
bottom," Cong Liming, director of the Zhejiang Disease Prevention
and Control Center, told China Daily.
He declined to disclose the figures of the province's
HIV-infected and AIDS patients, but said the rate was growing by 40
percent each year.
After Zhejiang found the first HIV-infected patient in 1985, the
province had reported 1,859 HIV-infected and AIDS patients by the
end of November last year, according to Xinhua News Agency.
In the first 11 months of last year, 571 Zhejiang residents
became infected with the HIV virus or were confirmed as AIDS
patients, almost 31 percent higher than 2005, when 436 cases were
reported.
The agency said there were probably close to 20,000 HIV-infected
and AIDS patients in Zhejiang.
New regulations in Zhejiang state that government officials and
employment intermediaries should educate migrant workers about AIDS
prevention and treatment.
Employers should also educate their employees about AIDS
prevention, and make it an integral part of ongoing employee job
training and safety education programs, the regulation said.
To stem the spread of AIDS, regulations forbid the use of any
blood that has not been screened for HIV, the same with human
organs, cells, marrow and sperm.
Expectant women and patients waiting for surgery will be tested
for HIV free of charge.
(China Daily March 1, 2007)