HIV/AIDS was first found among IDU in Liangshan in 1995 but in 2014, sex was named the major transmission path, said Song Zhibin, vice director of the Liangshan HIV/AIDS prevention bureau.
Now almost 90 percent of townships have PLWHA.
"We are also seeing an increase of mother-to-child transmission cases every year," Song said, citing a lack of prevention awareness education as the main cause.
Poverty has also exacerbated the situation.
Jiq's household earns about 7,000 yuan (about 1,126.9 U.S. dollars) a year, which is by no means the lowest in the area. In 2007, more than 1.5 million people in Liangshan brought home less than 1,000 yuan a year, making it one of the poorest regions in Sichuan Province.
"IDU, low education, and underfunded medical services in this region can all be traced back to poverty. It feeds the epidemic," said Song.
After expanding the PMTCT project in Liangshan to cover more areas, the number of babies born with HIV dropped from 10.5 percent in 2008 to 5.5 percent in 2013.
At the same time, more programs to help residents out of poverty have been launched.
One project, headed by the China Red Ribbon Foundation, seeks to empower local women through the traditional craft of Yi embroidery.
The project combines poverty relief work with traditional culture protection, said Wang Ying, vice president of the general union of the prefecture.
"We have trained more than 6,000 women over the past two years, many were PLWHA," she added.
Jiq's main goal is to deliver a healthy son. To achieve this, the whole family are undergoing antiviral therapy.
"I want to live, because I can't imagine what would happen to my children if I died," she said.
