Prostitution and drug use are forbidden in China, but a new controversial national Health Ministry plan will intervene to help prostitutes and addicts avoid HIV infection.

"Intervention on high-risk groups is very crucial and urgent to HIV/AIDS prevention and control today. Health Ministry's plan is definitely instructive to the work of local governments at all levels," said Li Chaoliang, deputy director of HIV/AIDS prevention and control office of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

According to the plan, local health authorities should educate prostitutes and promote condoms usage. Sufferers of sexually transmitted diseases should be given standard medical treatment and free condoms.

The new regulation also stipulates that information about HIV and AIDS should be disseminated in areas frequented by homosexual males and their partners. Intravenous drug-users should also be encouraged to practice safe sex and use condoms.

Currently, China has 840,000 HIV carriers including 80,000 AIDS patients. The epidemic has spread throughout the country and is transferring to common people from high-risk groups, such as prostitutes, drug users, homosexuals and migrant workers.

However, some say it is hypocritical to care for the prostitutes and drug users while public security authorities are cracking down on prostitution and drug abuse.

"Public security departments require drug users to register themselves at local public security bureaus, and encourage the public to report unregistered drug users," said Guo Yaqi, who has been doing voluntary AIDS prevention work for many years.

"But now health department are going to provide condoms and education to them. How can the two government authorities cooperate with each other? Will they cooperate with each other?" said Guo.

He also doubted if health departments have the responsibility to report to the public security departments after getting information of prostitutes and drug users. "What will they do if they find unregistered drug users?"

The plan is a "positive signal" of the government's growing attention to the spread of HIV/AIDS, but its practicability is not clear yet, said Meng Lin, an HIV carrier.

"The approach would have no legal force unless the Health Ministry and the Public Security Ministry jointly issue a detailed operation plan to implement it," he said.

Without a detailed cooperation plan, scenes like what happened in a southern Chinese city, when police rushed in and seized drug users during an intervention by health workers, could be come commonplace.

"It is a embarrassment of law. Accepting intervention means getting trapped by police or getting care and help is what sensitive groups concern," said Meng.

Regarding these doubts, Yunnan's Li said the intervention on high-risk groups need support and cooperation of public security departments. Intervenors must balance the needs to the high risk people and the government's crackdown on related crime.

"We must stress the importance of secrecy and try our best to keep the information only for intervention use," he said.

Officials with the Ministry of Public Security declines to comment on Health Ministry's plan, saying they were not clear about the details yet.

"Intervention on sensitive groups should be conducted by non-governmental organizations, as other countries do," said Guo, "and if not, government departments should cooperate more in planning."

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2005)