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April 27, 2015

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HIV cases rising in poverty-stricken county

Pregnant with her third child, a woman in Muzhaluo, a village in Zhaojue County, is hoping for “a healthy boy.” Unbeknown to her at the time, her first child was born with HIV.

Five years ago, the 37-year-old, along with her newborn child and husband, tested positive.

Her first child, a boy, was a sickly child and constantly feverish. “When I took him to the local hospital he tested positive for the virus,” his mother said.

Zhaojue in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is only about 100 kilometers from the prefecture capital Xichang, home to a satellite launch center. However, in sharp contrast to Xichang’s prosperous reputation as a result of its thriving aerospace industry, Zhaojue is synonymous with poverty and HIV/AIDS.

Liangshan, in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, is on a major drug trafficking route from the infamous Golden Triangle, a heroin production and distribution hub.

From 1995 to 2014, the prefecture recorded 35,329 cases of HIV/AIDS, currently it has 21,631 people living with HIV/AIDS.

Sadly, the woman’s story is not unique. Her husband, like many people in the area, was once an intravenous drug user (IDU) who had contracted HIV through sharing needles. Many other women contracted HIV in similar circumstances, leading to an increase in mother-to-child transmission.

In 2009, the Liangshan mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention center began a “Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission” program which offered prenatal antiviral treatment and surrogacy.

When the woman from Muzhaluo delivered her second baby, she was offered treatment under the program at her local maternal health center. Her daughter is now 3 and not showing any signs of the virus.

“My girl is healthy, but I still want a healthy son to carry on the family name,” she said.

HIV/AIDS was first found among drug users 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 people living with HIV/AIDS.

“We are also seeing an increase in mother-to-child transmission cases every year,” Song said, citing a lack of prevention awareness as the main cause.

Poverty has exacerbated the situation. In 2007, more than 1.5 million people in Liangshan brought home less than 1,000 yuan (US$161) a year, making it one of Sichuan’s poorest regions.

“IDU, low education, and underfunded medical services in this region can all be traced back to poverty,” Song said. “It feeds the epidemic.”




 

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