The ratio of men to women among newly reported HIV/AIDS cases in
China has surged to 2:1, up from 5:1 in the 1990s, a senior
official said in Nanchang on Monday.
The number of women sufferers has been rising rapidly since 1985
when China reported its first AIDS case, said Vice Health Minister
Wang Longde at a national conference on AIDS prevention for women
in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province.
A total of 203,527 HIV/AIDS cases had been reported by April 30,
up from 183,733 last October, according to the official.
Women accounted for 27.8 percent of all the reported HIV/AIDS
cases in 2006, against 19.4 percent in 2000, and more than half of
sexual transmission cases, the official added.
The total number of cases in China -- taking into account those
who are unaware that they carry the HIV virus -- is probably around
650,000, according to estimates by experts from the United Nations
and the Ministry of Health.
Contaminated needles shared by drug users and unprotected sex
are the main causes of HIV transmission in China, according to the
Ministry of Health.
(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2007)