- Title: CHINA: UNITED STATES LAUNCHES AIDS PREVENTION PROGRAMME IN HENAN PROVINCE
- Date: 28th May 2004
- Summary: (U6) WENLOU VILLAGE, SHANGCAI COUNTY, HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA (MAY 28, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SCU: CHILDREN WELCOMING U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA CLARK RANDT TO THE VILLAGE 0.05 2. RANDT TALKING TO CHILDREN 0.10 3. CHILDREN WAVING FLOWERS 0.14 4. RANDT CLAPPING AND WALKING 0.19 5. VILLAGERS IN WENLOU WATCHING (2 SHOTS) 0.28 6. WS: LAUNCH OF GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAMME PROJECT IN HENAN PROVINCE 0.33 7. SCU: RANDT SPEAKING ABOUT THE PROGRAMME 0.38 8. AUDIENCE APPLAUDING 0.44 9. WS: EXTERIOR NEWLY-BUILT HOSPITAL IN WENLOU 0.48 10. AIDS PATIENTS IN WARD/CLOSE UP MAN IN HOSPITAL BED/INTRAVENOUS DRIP (4 SHOTS) 1.07 11. AIDS PATIENT SHIELDING FACE 1.10 12. AIDS PATIENT ZHU HUA RECEIVING DRUGS FROM NURSE (2 SHOTS) 1.20 13. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) ZHU HUA, SAYING: "Before I received treatment I didn't want to live anymore, I wanted to die when I found out I had AIDS, I didn't want to do anything but lie in bed. I just wanted to die, but now the clinic is open, I feel better after being treated." 1.38 14. MORE OF VILLAGERS IN WENLOU OUT ON STREET (2 SHOTS) 1.48 15. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) 34-YEAR-OLD AIDS PATIENT, WANG YIN (WHO CONTRACTED HIV IN 1996), SAYING: "Now I don't feel good. My situation is not good. I feel tired all the time. My body is deteriorating, but now it seems the medicine is helping a little bit, I feel a little bit better." 2.04 16. VILLAGERS WATCHING 2.08 17. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) VILLAGER (WHO DOES NOT HAVE AIDS OR HIV), WANG HENGCHUN, SAYING: "I'm not scared. We are in contact with the patients, this kind of disease is not infectious. We know from the government information how this disease is passed on and we know how it is spread. People cannot be infected in normal situations" 2.7 18. SLV: OFFICIALS WALKING TOWARDS BUILDING 2.32 19. U.S. DELEGATION STANDING IN VILLAGE 2.37 20. RAY YIP, HEAD OF THE U.S. CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION IN CHINA, STANDING WITH OFFICIALS 2.42 21. SOUNDBITE (English) RAY YIP, HEAD OF THE U.S. CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION IN CHINA, SAYING: "What they really need to do is two things, one is rapidly improve the quality of many of the work they do, including the use of drugs, including a better programme to find the remaining people who could be infected with HIV, but they still don't know they are, so expanding the case findings so they can get proper care." 3.07 21. RANDT INSIDE HOSPITAL LOOKING AROUND (2 SHOTS) 3.32 22. PEOPLE IN VILLAGE (2 SHOTS) 3.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th June 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WENLOU VILLAGE, HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA
- Country: China
- Reuters ID: LVACS5MJDJFPPYN263MISU969YSI
- Story Text: US launches AIDS prevention programme in China's
Henan province.
The U.S. launches an AIDS prevention programme in
China's Henan province where thousands of people contracted
HIV in the 1990s from illegal blood banks.
U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt on Friday (May 28)
launched a U.S.-funded programme in Henan province to help
combat AIDS and ensure better treatment for HIV sufferers.
Randt visited Wenlou village in Henan, which has become
a symbol of China's failure to deal with the threat posed
by AIDS.
It is one of just of hundreds of villages in Henan
devastated by AIDS after illegal blood-selling schemes
spread the deadly virus to thousands of people in the 1990s.
Experts say up to three million people in Henan alone
sold their blood to unsanitary clinics in what they call
the worst medically caused HIV epidemic in the world.
Officials say 11,000 people have been infected by HIV
and 5,000 have developed AIDS in Henan - but activists say
the real figure is much higher - possibly as high as one
million.
Wenlou is now at the front-line of government efforts
to hold back the disease which the U.N. has warned could
affect as many as 10 million people nationwide by 2010.
For many in Henan, though, the government efforts have
come too late.
Thirty-nine-year old Zhu Hua contracted HIV in 1999 -
but it's only in recent months that she's been able to get
access to anti-retroviral drugs to relieve her symptoms.
"Before I received treatment I didn't want to live
anymore, I wanted to die when I found out I had AIDS, I
didn't want to do anything but lie in bed. I just wanted to
die, but now the clinic is open, I feel better after being
treated," said Zhu.
But many sufferers are still deprived of proper access
to drugs while others have dropped out of drug programmes
because of poor medical supervision or strong side-effects.
"Now I don't feel good. My situation is not good. I
feel tired all the time. My body is deteriorating, but now
it seems the medicine is helping a little bit, I feel a
little bit better," said 34-year-old Wang Yin, who
contracted HIV in 1996.
China has faced international condemnation for
disguising the scale of its AIDS epidemic, neglecting
patients and arresting activists and journalists.
But in recent weeks, China has taken steps to tackle
the disease head-on, with the U.N. saying there had been a
"sea change" in Beijing's approach.
China has ordered urgent measures to improve public
awareness about the disease.
In Henan, one villager said the stigma of AIDS was
beginning to lift.
"I'm not scared. We are in contact with the patients,
this kind of disease is not infectious. We know from the
government information how this disease is passed on and we
know how it is spread. People cannot be infected in normal
situations," said villager Wang Hengchun.
Despite the improvements, experts say China still has a
lot of work ahead if it hopes to prevent millions of new
infections.
"What they really need to do is two things, one is
rapidly improve the quality of many of the work they do,
including the use of drugs, including a better programme to
find the remaining people who could be infected with HIV,
but they still don't know they are, so expanding the case
findings so they can get proper care," said Ray Yip of the
U.S. Center for Disease Control.
While the government is keen to exhibit its new-found
zeal in AIDS prevention, some activists complain that
harassment continues.
And the fallout from the epidemic still reverberates.
In Henan province, hundreds, possibly thousands, of
children have been orphaned by the scourge of AIDS.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
