U.S. To Aid China On AIDS

Seeking to bolster China's newfound readiness to fight AIDS, a U.S. government program meant to help poor countries with the disease opened an office in Beijing on Monday and urged greater official efforts.

U.S. and Chinese officials said the office will boost China's ability to care for its estimated 1 million people who are HIV-positive and prevent the disease from spreading beyond high-risk groups.

"Both the U.S. and China made strong commitments to the awareness that AIDS is a major health threat to China," Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a dedication ceremony.

The office is the 25th foreign outpost in the CDC's Global AIDS Program, an effort to improve prevention and care in nations with large populations of people with the AIDS virus. They include Brazil, South Africa and Thailand.

New HIV infections in China have been growing by about 30 percent per year. Chinese officials and the United Nations warn that 10 million people could be infected by 2020 without more effective prevention measures.

China's government didn't publicly acknowledge the scale of the problem until last year. Activists say local governments are trying to conceal the extent of the problem.

China has to change that if it is to avoid a major outbreak, Gerberding said.

Without a cure, "the best vaccine for now is information," she said. "China has a unique opportunity of combating HIV and preventing it escaping in a way that it has in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world."

For now, the virus in China is still mostly confined to intravenous drug users and people infected by unsanitary blood buying, the agency said in a statement given to reporters.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said in Beijing that a rapid spread of AIDS in India and China — the world's most populous countries — could destroy chances to contain or cure the disease.

Thompson said Executive Vice Health Minister Gao Qiang and other officials he met with had been "very responsive" to his concerns about the epidemic.

Despite the visitors' positive statements, China hasn't announced any new initiatives to fight AIDS.

The CDC's statement said fear and discrimination against people with the AIDS virus were obstructing anti-disease efforts.

Chinese Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu, who attended the opening of the CDC office, repeated assurances that a new education, treatment and prevention campaign was being prepared, but gave no details.

"Swift and meaningful action will start," said Huang, adding that officials were now pledged to a "transparent, open manner."

By Christopher Bodeen