China grapples with foreign AIDS patients
9 Oct 2012 5:47 AM IST
An increasing number of foreigners are receiving free medication for HIV/AIDS on the Chinese mainland, a health specialist said and warned that lack of ‘clear policies’ on the issue could adversely affect the treatment of local population.
So far 8,366 foreign HIV/AIDS patients were reported till August this year from all over China, the National Centre for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control and Prevention said.
Of them 200 foreigners with HIV/AIDS are receiving free antiviral therapy, it said. Growing international exchanges are resulting in more foreign patients arriving in China and stay longer, Wu Zunyou, director of the centre, told China Daily.
But ‘we have no clear polices and Chinese nationals should always be the top priority, particularly with limited funding,’ he said.
Most foreign HIV/AIDS patients are living in Yunnan, Guangdong, Shandong and Fujian provinces, as well as in Beijing, Wu said.
Free treatment is only for Chinese citizens with case-by-case exceptions for foreigners, Zhao Yan, deputy director of the national center’s AIDS treatment and care division.
More than 60 per cent of foreigners receiving free treatment were female.
‘A great majority were women who had been living here for a long time and some even married locals and had children,’ she said, adding that many foreign women were trafficked over the border as brides.
So far 8,366 foreign HIV/AIDS patients were reported till August this year from all over China, the National Centre for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control and Prevention said.
Of them 200 foreigners with HIV/AIDS are receiving free antiviral therapy, it said. Growing international exchanges are resulting in more foreign patients arriving in China and stay longer, Wu Zunyou, director of the centre, told China Daily.
But ‘we have no clear polices and Chinese nationals should always be the top priority, particularly with limited funding,’ he said.
Most foreign HIV/AIDS patients are living in Yunnan, Guangdong, Shandong and Fujian provinces, as well as in Beijing, Wu said.
Free treatment is only for Chinese citizens with case-by-case exceptions for foreigners, Zhao Yan, deputy director of the national center’s AIDS treatment and care division.
More than 60 per cent of foreigners receiving free treatment were female.
‘A great majority were women who had been living here for a long time and some even married locals and had children,’ she said, adding that many foreign women were trafficked over the border as brides.
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