28,000 Die of HIV/AIDS in China in 2011: Official Report

HIV/AIDS killed 28,000 people in China in 2011, and 48,000 residents were newly diagnosed with the virus. These figures are from a Saturday report produced jointly by China’s Ministry of Health, UNAIDS, and the World Health Organization. About 780,000 Chinese are living with HIV, including 154,000 who have advanced to AIDS, the report said. More than 136,000 patients have received treatment as of September 2011; this represents an increase of 11.5 percentage points from 2009, bringing treatment coverage to 73.5 percent. Key reasons for the higher number of people living with AIDS include government interventions that have prolonged the lives of patients. The report called for increasing access to testing and treatment, expanding health education coverage, and fighting discrimination.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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