Three in 10 people with HIV in China are not aware they are living with the virus. This means almost 300,000 people in China have HIV, and don’t even know it. While there have been significant improvements in access to services, there is still an urgent need to scale up access to HIV testing, and early treatment for those who test positive, especially for those in hard-to-reach groups: this is the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) message on World AIDS Day.
“An enormous amount has been achieved through China’s determined response to tackling HIV in the last 15 years, but the job is not yet done. Some of those living with HIV still don’t know it – which means they risk getting sick and dying if they don’t receive antiretroviral treatment,” said Dr Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO Representative in China.
“We need to reach more people with an HIV test – so everyone living with HIV can benefit from the effective treatments that are available today,” said Dr Schwartländer.
There is also a pressing need to improve access to treatment for people living with HIV. Only four in 10 people living with HIV in China are receiving antiretroviral treatment. This is similar to the global average for treatment access.
“People who are HIV positive need to get started on treatment much earlier – before the virus damages the immune system and they fall sick. And we need to make the treatment regime simpler and easier to manage, in a fixed dose combination – one pill per day. Most African and Asian countries have this treatment regime in place – but China doesn’t, and this needs to change. Effective treatment with consistent viral suppression is also one of the most effective means to stop the transmission of the virus,” Dr Schwartländer said.
“We urgently need to scale up in these areas if China is to meet the all-important ‘90-90-90’ target by 2020: 90% of people living with HIV aware of their infection, 90% of those with known infection on antiretroviral treatment, and 90% of people on antiretroviral medicines with no detectable virus in their blood,” Dr Schwartländer explained.
“And we must hit the 90-90-90 target by 2020, in order to achieve the global goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030,” Dr Schwartländer said.
Significant progress has been made in addressing HIV/AIDS globally: since 2000, new HIV infections have fallen by one third, and AIDS-related deaths by one quarter. Around the world, close to 16 million of the estimated 37 million living with HIV are now receiving antiretroviral treatment.
In China, experience from various provinces shows both the feasibility and effectiveness of getting people onto antiretroviral treatment immediately following diagnosis and confirmation of HIV infection. Successful pilots in Guangxi, for example, reduced the average time from diagnosis to treatment from 53 to 5 days – decreasing AIDS-related deaths by two-thirds.
“Investing now in more and better testing, and earlier and better treatment, will put China on track to an AIDS-free future. And of course, we must continue to focus on preventing new infections in the first place – by providing the information and tools that people need to effectively protect themselves from HIV,” Dr Schwartländer said.
“We’ve seen in so many areas that China can achieve incredible things when it sets its mind to overcoming a challenge, so we know it can be done. Ending the HIV epidemic can be a reality in China,” Dr Schwartländer concluded.
In 2015, there are an estimated 850,000 people living with HIV in China. The overall HIV prevalence in the Chinese population is low at 0.06% – however HIV infections rates are higher among key affected populations such as sex workers (0.2%), people who inject drugs (5.9%) and men who have sex with men (8.0%). At the end of October 2015, more than 4000 clinics nationwide were providing free antiretroviral therapy, and an estimated 366,000 people living with HIV were on antiretroviral treatment. Around the world, there were almost 37 million people living with HIV at the end of 2014, with 2 million people becoming newly infected in 2014.
About the World Health Organization
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.