China's overall burden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is low. An estimated 650,000 people in China, less than 0.05% of the total population, were living with HIV at the end of 2005.
Although the overall prevalence of HIV remains low, HIV prevalence rates are high in key populations at higher risk, including injecting drug users (IDUs), sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM). The numbers of reported HIV and AIDS cases in China are rising, and heterosexual transmission is overtaking injection drug use as the dominant mode of HIV transmission.
Awareness of HIV needs to be further raised to provide people with the facts about how to prevent HIV and to combat widespread stigma that discourages people from seeking testing and erodes the quality of life of people living with HIV. There is still time for China to slow the spread of HIV and to prevent a wider epidemic. Concerted, scaled up prevention efforts are needed to ensure universal access to condoms, clean needles and other protective measures. As many of those already infected with HIV are now developing AIDS, there is also a growing need for increased access to treatment, care and support services.