Recent reports by Chinese health official stated that if no effective preventive measures are taken to curb the growth rate of HIV/AIDS carrier, the statistics could increase to over 10 million by 2010.
According to Reuters, China claimed that there are 840,000 HIV cases among its 1.3 billion population, however experts say that at least a million farmers living in rural areas are infected from botch-blood selling schemes in central province of Henan. Despite the stigmatization on the disease, Christian groups and international organizations are taking a grass-root approach to halt the spreading of the epidemic by providing AIDS awareness educational courses at churches and hosting out-reach events.
Ministries such as World Relief, Medical Ambassadors International, Friends of China and Christian ministries in Yunnan Province are among the organizations working to stunt the epidemic growth.
HIV/AIDS entered China as sporadic imported cases in the 1980s. It then spread among injecting drug users in Yunnan in the early 1990s. In addition, hundreds and thousands of people were infected with the disease botched-blood selling schemes in central province of Henan. Although much effort has been placed to change the situation, its still a nation-wide reality in China, stated Paul Hudson, a HIV/AIDS consultant for Serving in Missions in Asia.
Dr. Hudson quoted on SIM HOPE for AIDS website that "the reason why the HIV infection rates in developing countries like Uganda began to fall dramatically was because the churches stopped arguing over condoms and started preaching a unified message of sexual purity in 1991."
Until now, China has controlled the epidemic through quarantine and was depended on medical technology to improve physical health. However, Dr. Hudson assured that only through behavioral changes will the epidemic cease.
"God's people must have a part in this. In fact, experts estimate that the effect of primary behavior change in Uganda was the equivalent of a 'social vaccine' which was eighty percent effective!" He said.
Susan Hunter, author of 'AIDS in Asia: A Continent in Peril', also claimed that the HIV/AIDS epidemic cannot be controlled by medicine. She believes that condoms and antiretroviral medications are crucial to AIDS prevention, however it can't guarantee that new cases won't arise.
