China still has an opportunity to put the spread of the HIV virus under control if urgent vigorous actions are taken by the government, although the virus continues to spread in the world's most populous country, a Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) official said Wednesday.

In an interview with Xinhua, Desmond Johns, director of UNAIDS New York Office, praised the Chinese government for moving rapidly forward to address the ballooning HIV/AIDS problem.

"It's very fine to see the Chinese government is now making treatment available to these people (HIV-infected people)," he said, while warning there is a strong likelihood that the epidemic could spread from "high risk" groups into the mainstream population.

The Chinese government started this year to provide free medicines and treatment to HIV carriers and AIDS patients in the country's rural areas and urban residents in financial difficulties.

Johns said there are many factors working in favor of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in China, which include poverty, large mobile populations, rapid economic changes, and a lack of basic services like housing, health care and education.

According to the Chinese Health Ministry, China has an estimate of 840,000 people with HIV or human immunodeficiency, including 80, 000 with full-blown AIDS. The prevalence in China is somewhere between 0.06 percent and 0.07 percent.

Johns said that when the prevalence rate reaches 1.0 percent of the population in a particular country, it is regarded as being a generalized epidemic, meaning it's now spreading just beyond the so-called high risk groups.

"One percent in Africa is still regarded as a success story, but 1.0 percent in India or China is a huge number of people. So certainly, getting the epidemic under control early through vigorous actions is extremely important," he stressed.

"The opportunity is there for China to take the lessons that have been learned in Latin America, in Western Europe and in Africa, and apply them with appropriate social adjustment and cultural adjustment to the Chinese scenario," he added.

Johns noted that China and many parts of Asia have the benefits of having "very early epidemics" and China also has the benefit of having "a very, very efficient public service and a society within which it's possible to roll out and implement policies very rapidly."

Citing China's effective efforts to eradicate polio, Johns said it is easy for the Chinese society to mobilize against AIDS.

He said that eliminating stigma and discrimination against HIV-infected people, having a strong and viable leadership at all levels and increasing resources would be vital for China to fight the deadly disease.

"Addressing stigma and discrimination, so people are willing to be tested to know their status is key to getting an adequate response (to AIDS). It is key for us to getting a better estimation of what the actual figure (of infections) is," he emphasized.

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