Wu Zunyou, a professor at the Beijing-based National Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, told China Daily that a low usage rate of condoms by illegal sex of prostitutes was leading to the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS from high-risk groups to the general public.

Only 60 percent of the 800 prostitutes who took part in a survey last month said they used a condom with all their clients. About 50 percent said they did not use a condom because their clients did not like it, according to the survey released by Horizon & Horizonkey.

Those surveyed were from 12 areas in Southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Only about 17 percent of the women polled said they insisted on using a condom when they had sex with their boyfriends or other non-commercial sexual partners.

The center has been cooperating with the United Nations Children's Fund on a summary report of the HIV/AIDS situation in China. The report was released on December 1, World AIDS Day.

According to the report, fewer than 10 percent of these women used a condom with all their clients.

The Ministry of Health reported in June that China now has 1 million HIV carriers, which would mean one HIV carrier for every 1,300 people.

Without effective immediate measures, the number will reach 10 million by 2010.

HIV and AIDS cases where the virus has been transmitted by sexual intercourse only make up about 10 percent of the total number of patients in China.

However, sex will play a bigger role in spreading the deadly virus, especially in transmitting it from high-risk groups to the general public, Wu noted.

The survey also polled 800 men aged between 25 and 45 who had illegally frequented prostitutes. About 40 percent of the men said they had had intercourse without using a condom.

The percentage of female victims of HIV or AIDS living in China has increased from about 9 percent of victims in the early 1990s to 25 percent last year. Many female HIV carriers are both drug users and prostitutes.

Wu said the fear is that more and more clients get infected with HIV when they have unprotected sex with a prostitute and then they transmit the virus to their wives or girlfriends.

The central government has decided, as part of its five-year action plan to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS, to encourage the correct use of condoms across the country through public-service announcements.

Condoms are still listed as medical equipment by Chinese administrative bodies. In the past, they were strictly controlled and could only be sold in pharmacies. The situation has been changing quickly since the State Council issued its action plan in 1998.

The Ministry of Health has launched a pilot project in four big cities, such as Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, to provide free condoms or to place condom vending machines in entertainment venues.

Various levels of governments in China buy millions of condoms every year and distribute them to residents free of charge. Condoms can also be bought in vending machines in the streets of Beijing.

Meanwhile, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has promised to let condoms be included in some general health advertisements early next year.

(China Daily December 17, 2002)