9th April-- From the 2008 Provincial Disease Prevention and Control meeting held in Shenzhen yesterday, Guangdong’s rising AIDS epidemic has shown its first signs of being contained. The 2007 Provincial Report on HIV infection was 12.8% lower than the report of 2006.
For the year 2007, Guangdong Province’s legal report on total incidence rate of category A and B infectious disease has decreased from previous years. The Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) coverage was at 100%. The recovery rate of pulmonary tuberculosis positive patients was highest in the country at 94.6%. Rabies cases reported the first decline in recent years at 13.95% lower than 2006, signifying the increasing trend of the Rabies epidemic is beginning to be contained.
The dengue fever cases in 2007’s provincial report were lowered by 60.6% compared to 2006. The provincial report on flu-like cases causing an epidemic was 40 cases. This, in comparison to 2006 (172 cases), is a decrease of 76.7%. There has been timely and effective containment of dengue fever, cholera and cerebrospinal meningitis.
More than 95% of children in the province received the “6 vaccinations” immunization in 2007, maintaining a 14-year record of zero polio cases. The hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) carrier rate dropped significantly and is 33.8% lower than in 1992.
It is reported that the Comprehensive AIDS Prevention and Control Measures were realized and began to positively affect the rapid growth of AIDS cases. The province has built a Central Confirmation Laboratory, 16 Confirmation Laboratories and 455 HIV Screening Laboratories. There were 42 Methadone Maintenance Therapy Clinics throughout the province. These have cumulatively treated more than 8000 patients. Through social marketing, there was a gradual openness towards the promotion of the use of condoms, with more than 2 million condoms being distributed and public caution on exchanging syringes and needles. There were more than 1,000 AIDS patients who had received free anti-viral, and the commonly seenopportunistic infection, treatment. Close to 200,000 people have undergone free testing consultations throughout the province over the course of the last year.
Translated by Sock Sim Koh
Edited by Natasha Holt
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