According to a New York Times article on China, new HIV cases are rising in china, with “70,000 new cases identified in the first nine months of this year.”
In the past, the means of transmission of the disease were often drug use and untested blood sources, but current trends have 87.1% of all new infections coming from sexual transmission. In the past, a greater proportion of those infected with the disease were from less developed regions, of the country. “Now it has entered cities, and the universities where the so-called elite groups are.” said Dr. Wang, an AIDS specialist at the Chinese equivalent of the CDC. The incidence of infections among young people increased 29% between 2011 and 2012.
University students and urban youth are often educated about the methods for preventing AIDS transmission and have the resources available to do so, but also engage in reckless behavior that puts themselves at risk: “they indulge in high-risk behavior they don’t use their knowledge to protect themselves” said Dr. Wang.
Since 2008, “the proportion of young HIV/AIDS sufferers almost doubled.” To some extent, this trend is increased by the incidence of homosexual male sex in china. Male sexual partners inconsistently use condoms, which increases the spread of the disease.
The World Health Organization Estimates that there were 780,000 people living with HIV in China as of 2011.
Wow. I am overwhelmed by the huge number of new cases this year. HIV is obviously still very prevalent, but we don’t think about it as much anymore. It’s even more amazing that almost 90% is coming from sexual transmission. You would think that the proportion of HIV sufferers would not have increased by such a large proportion since 2008. I would be interested to see more on the numbers in the increasing trend of homosexual male interactions.
In my research paper I ran into a lot of information about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but mostly specific to parts of Africa. This has been an extremely difficult outbreak to control because most of the areas that are impacted are very poor and have extremely weak health systems that are unable to maintain the rapid influx in patient volume in a short period of time. The numbers in China are startling, and it will be interesting to monitor how this impacts the overall health of the economy in the next few years.
The large number of HIV cases means that blood supplies may become even more uncertain. As seen in the Hessler book, hospitals do not always screen blood thoroughly. If someone doesn’t know that they have contracted a disease they may unknowingly pass it on to a patient. In the US universities and high school seem to get several visits from blood collection groups. Healthy college age students are ideal to donate blood. This article shows that more testing may need to occur to ensure safety.
There certainly does seem to be the threat of having these students spread the disease because of unsafe blood testing practices. It would be interesting to find out if the proportion of new cases transmitted by sexual interactions is rising because people are having sex in less safe ways, or because the testing procedures have improved so the proportions are being reduced from the other end. Hessler’s book is recently published, but I believe his research took place from 2000 to 2007 based on his bio. In a country that changes as rapidly as China, it’s possible blood testing has improved significantly over the last 6 or so years.
China is still a very poor economy, but it is interesting if the political incentives around HIV/AIDS change given that a significant proportion of new cases are the educated elite. As uncomfortable as it is to say, it is possible that having the upper echelon of Chinese society contract the disease in higher proportions could be the saving grace for the poorer masses, because it may cause the government to take a more proactive response to the virus. China is still a very poor economy, but it is interesting if the political incentives around HIV/AIDS change given that a significant proportion of new cases are the educated elite. As uncomfortable as it is to say, it is possible that having the upper echelon of Chinese society contract the disease in higher proportions could be the saving grace for the poorer masses, because it may cause the government to take a more proactive response to the virus.
It surprises me that statistics would indicate that a large number of Chinese would admit to contracting AIDS by having gay sex.
Travel to a city in the United States and you’re bound to see a homosexual couple before long, however when I went to China for 6 weeks in the summer of 2010, I didn’t see a single same-sex couple outwardly displaying affection. When I enquired about the status of homosexuality in China to my cousin and her friends, they told me that homosexuality is far less prevalent in China than in the United States. Their inclination was to say that the culture and expectations that the Chinese are held to either do not give rise to homosexual expression or foster its repression. They told me that they knew of very very few possible homosexuals personally and said that they genuinely believe that the number of “genuine” homosexuals is far lower in China than in the United States.
I was inclined to have my doubts, but acknowledge that culture may have some non-trivial influence.