HIV In Gay Men In China Sky Rocket

The HIV infection rate among gay men in China is climbing at an alarming rate largely due to a lack of awareness about the disease.
The HIV infection rate is nearing 1.5 percent among sexually active homosexual men, Zhang Beichuan, a professor with Qingdao University's Medical School, told an anti-AIDS forum in Yichang, according to China Daily.

"The health authorities have to do something to curb the rising infection rate among gay men, who account for two to four percent of the sexually active adult male population," Zhang said, reports China Daily.

China's first, and most recent, official figure on male homosexuality was released in 2004, putting the total of gay men in the country at between five and ten million. Reuters reports that the Ministry of Health currently claims China has around 650,000 HIV carriers, which translates into an infection rate of 0.05 percent in the combined male and female population of 1.3 billion.

"We're now like Africa," Hao Yang, deputy director of disease control for the Ministry of Health, told Reuters, adding, "Last year, we found that 48 percent of those who were newly infected contracted the disease from sex, so it's not a disease that afflicts only high-risk groups." (keep reading)