Construction for China's first provincial HIV/AIDS care center has completed in the suburbs of Kunming, capital of southwest Yunnan Province.

 

The multi-function center, located 28 km from downtown Kunming, will begin operation later this year, according to Xu Heping, deputy director of Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Health.

 

The center is built jointly by the state and Yunnan Province at a cost of 140 million yuan (about US$17.5 million). It will have six specialized departments -- clinical treatment, technical consulting, research and development, international exchange and cooperation, clinical treatment training, and psychological therapy. Neighboring the drug-producing Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia, Yunnan has become the worst hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in China.

 

By late 2006, Yunnan had 48,591 known HIV carriers and 3,935 AIDS patients. Many of the victims have got infected through sharing syringes in drug injection and unsafe sex activities. So far, the death toll from the disease has reached 1,768 in Yunnan.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2007)