HONG KONG–Over 30 percent of Chinese city residents are ignorant towards their risk of contracting AIDS, according to an international online survey. The level of the public's knowledge about AIDS is dangerously low, and China urgently needs better sex education. In addition, Chinese AIDS experts and activists say that China might be underestimating its AIDS epidemic.
Many Respondents Don't Discuss the Risk of AIDS
Survey results released on Friday by Zogby International show that more than 37 percent of Chinese men surveyed admitted to having visited prostitutes. In addition, roughly 30 percent of the surveyed have never discussed AIDS and other STDs with their potential partners. A total of 3,753 adults between the ages of 18 and 54 participated in the poll, and about 70 percent were male and 45 percent were married.
"[The survey reveals that] there is cause for concern, as respondents present a dangerous mixture of complacency and ignorance regarding sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS," Zogby International said in a statement.
Polarized Perception of AIDS
In an interview with VOA, AIDS prevention activist, Hu Jia, said that the majority of the Chinese public still knows very little about AIDS, despite China's annual World AIDS Day campaign.
"For the majority of the Chinese people, perceptions of AIDS stand at opposite ends of the spectrum," according to Hu. He said, "The first extreme is that some people are indifferent towards AIDS and think it is completely unrelated to their lives. Even when these people visit prostitutes, they don't take protective measures. The other extreme is that people are overly terrified—they even think AIDS is a respiratory transmitted disease. These people become panic-stricken when they are near AIDS patients, and they discriminate against the patients.
Condom usage is low in the big cities, and even worse in local regions.
Hu Jia said, "For example, in the cities of Henan Province, Kaifeng, Zhumadian and Shangqiu, commercial sex workers charge as low as five yuan. Under such a transaction, there is completely no talk of self-protection."
Participants of Zogby's survey are mainly urban, wealthy and educated males. Hu believes that despite city dwellers' middle-class social status, they have a poor understanding of safe sex. Hu said, "Sex workers often see this group dressing neat and tidy and therefore presume that they are not at risk for AIDS. In actuality, this group is as likely to transmit AIDS as sex workers are, not only amongst each other, but also to their families."
Local Officials Indifferent Towards AIDS Prevention
Zhang Ke is an HIV/AIDS doctor at Beijing You'an Hospital and also a member of the Expert Committee for HIV/AIDS and STD Prevention under the Ministry of Health. Zhang conducted a five-year investigation on AIDS patients in Henan Province. In the interview with VOA, Zhang stated that the Chinese public may know about AIDS to a much lesser degree than the investigation shows. Local government officials are also apathetic about and don't pay enough attention to this problem.
Zhang said, "For the local officials, only GDP growth occupies their minds and AIDS prevention is unimportant to them. The local governments are not taking human lives seriously, and instead are only focusing on economic development."
The Number of Patients May be Underestimated
In 2005, more than 40 million are infected with AIDS and more than 3 million died from it, according to the United Nations. China's Ministry of Health reports to having 0.65 million AIDS patients in China, which Zhang Ke believes to be an underestimate.
Zhang said, "It is very difficult to prevent transmission of AIDS. Especially among drug users and homosexuals. Infections have grown dramatically and astonishingly in the past few years, primarily through sexual relations."
Hu Jia said that when SARS exploded in 2003, the Chinese government had to disclose its epidemic situation after facing pressure from public health control. In September 2003, Gao Qiang, Minister of Health declared China had 1 million of AIDS patients. But two years later in 2005, the number of AIDS patients is reported to have decreased to 0.65 million. Hu thinks that this report is very unlikely.
Hu said, "The Ministry of Health explained that this number is closer to the real situation because they have expanded the survey and added more places to monitor. Many patients, however, did not take the survey because they are working in other areas or fear discrimination. In addition, besides infected patients who sell their blood, many more hidden cases of HIV/AIDS infections are caused by malpractice in blood transfusion."
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