Beijing acknowledges Aids epidemic 中国爱滋病像漏油一样扩散 Financial Times, UK, 3 March 2001 Beijing acknowledges Aids epidemic: At last China is tackling its problem, with some help from the west, writes Richard McGregor A map on display at the Yunnan Bureau of Health depicts the start of its battle against Aids with a small, black splash on China's border with Burma, marking the mainland's first official HIV-positive case in 1989. In the decade since then, that black mark has spread like an oil slick to darken the whole of one of China's southern-most provinces, leaving local authorities with a horrific, and so far unchecked, public health problem. "The situation is very serious - the disease has not been controlled," said Cheng Hehe of the Yunnan Bureau of Health. After first being a spectator to the global Aids problem, then standing on the sidelines in denial, China is now taking its emerging Aids epidemic seriously. It is perhaps surprising that a country which often aggressively shuns the world with such problems, is desperately reaching out for aid and advice from foreign governments and agencies. "They are begging for help," said one foreign aid worker. Britain has sponsored the largest Pounds 15.3m (Dollars 22m) project to combat Aids in Yunnan. The province has also actively sought help from the United Nations and non-government organisations, such as Save the Children. No one in China - not even the Chinese government - takes the health ministry's official statistics on Aids seriously. The ministry put the number of HIV carriers at 20,711 last year, but the official press says the real number is closer to 500,000, and possibly double that. Impoverished villagers and farmers who sold their blood to unscrupulous blood traders, using and re-using unsterilised needles and drips, are responsible for an estimated 20 per cent of HIV infections. The Chinese media has reported extensively on a tainted-blood scandal in Henan province, and the actions of officials who cut corners in trying to profit from the plasma trade. But the origin of the disease for the bulk of Chinese Aids sufferers can be found at that little black mark near Burma, in Ruili. Ruili, and the surrounding areas, are the transit point for the burgeoning trade into China of heroin and opium from the Golden Triangle, the region covering the borders of Laos, Thailand and Burma. About 60 per cent of the production from the Golden Triangle now goes into China, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme says, and a large amount of the drugs are consumed in the mainland. "The level of injection drug use has increased enormously over the last five years," says Wayne Bazant, of the UNDCP. "And more and more of those young men are using injections as the first form of drug use, rather than smoking." Added to the trade in drugs is the traffic in people and goods, and rampant prostitution, probably more blatant in Ruili than anywhere else in China. The town's wild west attractions are crowned by a 24-hour casino, nestled on a sandy isthmus on the river separating the two countries to give it a veil of legality. Gambling is banned in China. This cocktail of intravenous drug use, prostitution and a roaring border trade is stirred by Yunnan's numerous minority groups, making education campaigns about the disease difficult. Aid workers report that many local hospitals refuse to take Aids patients. Aids sufferers and their families are regularly ostracised. In one case, the names of HIV-positive people were read out in a village's central square. "(The minorities) are very vulnerable, especially the women," said Ms Cheng. Ruili is touchy about its reputation as China's Aids' incubator. The local authorities bar foreign journalists and, say aid workers, removed prostitutes from the streets when Claire Short, the UK's international development secretary, visited late last year. The local police are often a big obstacle to innovative programmes, such as needle exchanges. "The families are also surprised - they, along with the police, say, maybe you are supporting them using drugs," says one Chinese aid worker. The narcotics police have won praise from the UNDCP for their level of drug seizures at borders. But their success around Ruili has simply forced the smugglers further along the lengthy border. "There are many drugs groups, and they have various connections in Thailand, Hong Kong and China," says Dong Sheng of Yunnan's Narcotics Control Bureau. "Some are small, and don't have much capital. Some are very powerful in terms of capital. Some have dense networks with a long history. Others have a short history." China has recently formalised intelligence-sharing with the Burmese police and sponsored programmes to plant 30,000 hectares of substitute crops for farmers growing opium. But as in the west, China is discovering that the war against drugs and Aids is a long one, with small wins, but no ultimate victory. 中国爱滋病像漏油一样扩散 【多维新闻社3日电】多维社记者刘秉善报道/云南省卫生厅有一张爱滋病分布图，那张图 上在中国和缅甸的边界地区有个小小的黑点，那就是1989年中国官方首次报告爱滋病存在 的地方。英国《金融时报》网络版2日说，但自那时起，那个黑点就像漏油一样扩散，染 黑了中国最南方的省份，引起令人恐怖、但至今没有被控制住的公共卫生问题。 云南省卫 生厅官员说，“形势非常严峻，爱滋病还没有被控制。”(chinesenewsnet.com) 中国原来是作为旁观者看待全球的爱滋病问题，后来否认爱滋病在中国存在，现在开始认 真对待爱滋病的蔓延问题。(chinesenewsnet.com) 令人惊奇的是，原来一直对外部世界躲避这类问题的中国现在积极要求外国政府和机构的 援助及建议。一名外国援助人员说，“他们现在请求帮助。”(chinesenewsnet.com) 英国目前资助了云南最大的控制爱滋病项目，共投入2200万美元。云南也在积极寻求联合 国和非政府组织的帮助。 但中国人，甚至中国政府，没有人认真对待卫生部门的爱滋病统 计数字。卫生部说去年中国爱滋病毒携带者人数是20,711人，但官方新闻机构说实际数字 接近五十万，也可能接近一百万。(chinesenewsnet.com) 贫穷的农民卖血，血贩子反复使用没有经过消毒的针头和针管造成百分之二十的爱滋病感 染。 中国媒体广泛报道河南省出现的卖血感染爱滋病以及当地官员从中牟利问题。 (chinesenewsnet.com) 但中国最早大量出现爱滋病的地方是靠近缅甸的云南省瑞丽县。瑞丽及其周围地位是从金 三角(缅甸、泰国和老挝三国交界地区)贩运海洛因和鸦片到中国的中转站。 (chinesenewsnet.com) 联合国国际毒品控制机构说，目前金三角地区大约百分之六十的毒品都进入中国，多数毒 品也在中国消费。(chinesenewsnet.com) 联合国官员巴赞特(Wayne Bazant)说，过去五年来，中国使用注射毒品的人数剧增。越来越 多的年轻人都使用注射方式吸毒，而不是传统的抽烟方式。 (chinesenewsnet.com) 在毒品贸易剧增的同时，人员和商品的流动量也在猛增，还有妓女，这些问题在瑞丽比在 中国其它地方更为严重。(chinesenewsnet.com) 在中缅界河缅甸一侧有一块属于瑞丽的飞地，那里甚至开办了24小时营业的堵场。尽管中 国禁止赌博，在这块飞地赌博似乎合法。(chinesenewsnet.com) 静脉注射毒品、卖淫和沸腾的边境贸易加上云南众多少数民族，使爱滋病教育非常困难。 (chinesenewsnet.com) 援助人员说，当地许多医院拒绝接受爱滋病人。爱滋病人及其家属经常受歧视。在有的地 方，村里公布爱滋病毒携带者的名字。一名卫生厅官员说，少数民族非常容易受感染，尤 其是妇女。(chinesenewsnet.com) 瑞丽对于作为中国爱滋病孵化器的名声非常敏感。援助人员说，地方政府禁止外国记者采 访，英国国际发展大臣肖特(Claire Short)去年访问时，瑞丽禁止当地妓女上街。 (chinesenewsnet.com) 当地警察通常是更换针头等防治爱滋病创新项目的最大障碍。许多家庭也和警察一样的态 度，认为提供更换针头是支持吸毒。(chinesenewsnet.com) 缉毒警察由于在边境地区抓获大量毒品而受到联合国毒品控制机构的赞扬，但他们的努力 也驱使瑞丽等地的毒品贩子分散地更广。(chinesenewsnet.com) 云南毒品控制局的官员说，有许多毒品集团，他们在泰国、香港和中国大陆有广泛的联系。 有些毒品集团很小。但有些很大，资金雄厚。有些集团有严密的网络，历史悠久。有些成 立时间很短。(chinesenewsnet.com) 中国最近同缅甸警方达成情报交换协议，发起三万公顷鸦片替代种植项目。 (chinesenewsnet.com) 但在中国西部，政府发现对毒品和爱滋病的战争是一场持久战，虽然取得一些小的胜利， 但距离最终胜利还很遥远。