Female injection drug users (IDUs) are the key population to prevent HIV transmission from high-risk populations to the general population in China, said experts here Thursday on the sixth drug prohibition science popularization symposium; prevention and care for drug using and AIDS.

"Female IDUs may be at the highest risk of acquiring HIV and the highest risk of exposing others to HIV in China," said Bessie Lee, deputy director of US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention Global AIDS Program, China.

According to statistics of CDC, in 2002 the three channels for China's HIV carriers to get the deadly virus are injection drug using, plasma collection and sexual transmission, covering 68 percent, 9.2 percent and 7.2 percent respectively of the total number of HIV carriers in China in 2002.

"The number of female drug users covers an percentage of 16.7 of the over one million drug users reported in China. In some regions, this percentage can even reach 40," said Cheng Feng, Country Director of Family Health International of the US in China.

"Many of them often collect money to buy drugs by offering sexual service. It makes this population a highly possible bridge connecting high-risk populations such as drug users to general population," said Cheng.

According to monitoring data offered by China-UK HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project, some 51 percent of female sexual workers injecting drugs do not use condoms normally.

"HIV routes for female sex workers who use drugs are from them to their male clients, then to low risk females, and then to low risk males. This is the secondary HIV transmission, which means HIV is transmitted from high risk populations to general population," said Bessie Lee.

"Now China is in the key phrase to prevent the secondary HIV transmission from spreading. How to realize this goal? The first is to focus priority attention on HIV prevention for female IDUs," said Lee.

"Next, to expand harm reduction of HIV by ways such as condom promotion and demand reduction for drug users," said Lee.

"And in the end, to offer anti-virus treatment for IDUs, especially females, to reduce risk of HIV transmission to male clients and other IDUs," said Lee.

"Now the Chinese government has begun to take measures including condom promotion and providing drug needles in regions of high outbreak of AIDS and drug using such as southwest Yunnan Province, which shows that the Chinese government has begun to take a positive and practical attitude in the prevention and care of China's AIDS and drug using," said Liu Zhimin, deputy director of National Institute of Drug Dependence (NIDD) of Beijing University.

There are nearly 900,000 HIV carriers reported in China.

Sparked by the Committee of Gao Shiqi Foundation of Science and Technology Development Foundation of China, the symposium was sponsored by NIDD, China Association for the advancement of International Friendship, Soong Ching Ling Foundation of Canada, Wujieping Medical Foundation, Lin Zexu Foundation of the U.S., China Institute for Popularization of Science and Technology, and the female mayors branch of Chinese Association for Mayors.

Source: Xinhua