AIDS deaths reach 28,000 in 2011

A total of 28,000 people died of HIV/AIDS in China in 2011, and another 48,000 in the country were found newly infected by the virus, according to an official publication on Saturday.

The report on the epidemic situation of HIV/AIDS in China, which was jointly produced by China's Ministry of Health, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS and the World Health Organization, said that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS increased by 40,000 in two years from 2009, although cases of new infections remained at a low level.

With about 780,000 people living with HIV/AIDS nationwide, including 154,000 AIDS patients, the total infection rate of the country stands at 0.058 percent, the report said.

The major reasons for the rise of the number of AIDS patients on record are the government's increasing efforts in prevention and intervention of the disease, which helped reduce deaths out of the patients, as well as some long-infected HIV carriers showing symptoms, said the report.

The report added that more than 136,000 AIDS patients had received anti-virus treatments by September 2011, bringing the treatment coverage rate to 73.5 percent, an increase of 11.5 percentage points compared to 2009.

The epidemic situation of HIV/AIDS is showing some new trends, as imported and sexually-transmitted cases keep increasing, according to the report.

It called for expanding the checking range in relevant groups, further strengthening the treatment of people with HIV/AIDS, as well as expanding the coverage of health education and reducing social discrimination.