Zeng Yi, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicines and an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, put the finger on inadequate funding for prevention, coupled with underrating the seriousness of a massive AIDS outbreak and its potential to create great havoc throughout the country.

"Without effective measures on these fronts, there is no guarantee of keeping a pandemic in check throughout the nation," said Zeng in a recent workshop on AIDS in Beijing.

The reported number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in China has reached 26,058, resulting in a total of 1,111 AIDS cases and 584 AIDS-related deaths, according to the latest official data.

Experts have estimated that more than 600,000 people in the country have already been infected with HIV.

In a recent interview with Beijing-based Guangming Daily, Zeng said the main cause of AIDS in China is shifting from drug injection and shared syringes to sexual transmission, putting China more in line with the AIDS situation in the developed nations.

"Though HIV/AIDS contraction via sexual infection still takes a small share of the total numbers of the infected in China, the shifting trend is threatening to China, which has billions of young people active in social mobility," said Zeng.

Intravenous drug use is still the most common transmission route of HIV infection in China, contributing to 69.8 percent of the total reported cases. All three HIV transmission routes - blood transmission, sexual contact and mother-to-infant - have been documented in China.

The expert said prostitution seems to have staged a comeback after heavy crackdowns launched in the last few years. A majority of the prostitutes are young girls from rural areas, who, once sent back to their hometowns, help transmit the AIDS throughout the local neighborhood.

The scenario is grim, as the rural region remains the Achille's Heel of Beijing's preventive crusade against HIV infection and spread, said Zheng.

He warned that once sexual transfer becomes the major vehicle for HIV infection, it will be more difficult for China to effectively control AIDS.

He said the country's anti-AIDS efforts should be geared up to meet global standards, including an across-the-board strengthening of measures used to check outbreaks.

He suggested a persistent and repeated public campaign to notify people about the AIDS.

Meanwhile, regulations ensuring a safe supply of blood should be tightened and implementation measures should be enforced.

Zeng also proposed revising the legal stipulations on the ban of prostitution and drugs, which stand in the way of the AIDS prevention efforts.

While urging more research on AIDS prevention, Zeng also called for the government at all levels to become the main financial source for AIDS prevention efforts.

(China Daily October 23, 2001)