China

5/31 provinces

AIDS Care China (ACC) joined the Alliance in 2013. ACC was founded in 2001 by a group of people living with HIV. ACC now works in five provinces, reaching over 30,000 people annually – about a quarter of all people living with HIV who are on treatment.

China has a low adult prevalence (0.1%) but a large number of people living with HIV (around 740,000). The epidemic disproportionately affects people who inject drugs, sex workers and men who have sex with men. In 2009, 32.5% of new infections in China were among men who have sex with men and 24.3 % were the result of injecting drug use.

Although HIV has been detected in all 31 provinces and municipalities of China, three quarters of people living with HIV are in five provinces, and 90% of infections among injecting drug users are in seven provinces.

There is a general consensus that the national response to HIV has improved dramatically since 2003. The government has increased funding for the response and committed to providing free treatment, care and prevention services. It is expanding its work with injecting drug users, and has taken steps to protect the rights of people living with HIV.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• The Alliance has worked in China since 2003. Through the Alliance China country office (up until May 2013) we played a valued role in the Chinese response to HIV, with a particular focus on building the capacity of community organisations. Alliance China supported well over 100 groups and networks of people living with HIV, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs, in the three southwestern provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi and Sichuan.
• Alliance China also developed a wide range of Chinese-language organisational and programme development tools, widely acknowledged to be invaluable contributions to Chinese HIV civil society development. These Chinese-language tools remain available on the Alliance global website.
• ACC inherits a significant legacy from Alliance China, including their commitment to facilitating a community based approach and to involving key populations in the HIV response. Their close work with the China Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Chinese Association of Sexually Transmitted Disease and AIDS Prevention and Control, Methadone Maintenance Treatment clinics and other community based groups is widely recognised.
• AIDS Care China joined the Alliance in 2013. Their 2013 results will be reported along with the main Alliance impact report in June 2014.

WHAT WE DO

Community-led responses

AIDS Care China works in five provinces, reaching over 30,000 people annually, through its Red Ribbon centers in clinics/hospitals.  These provide treatment literacy and support to people living with HIV. Their work concentrates on people who use drugs, prisoners and men who have sex with men. They also run three clinics to provide high quality, affordable health care for people living with HIV.

Community Action on Harm Reduction

AIDS Care China is an implementing partner of the Alliance’s ambitious Community Action on Harm Reduction programme (CAHR).

Work focuses on Sichuan province where prevalence of HIV amongst people who inject drugs is 18%. The project will substantially rely upon the peer support programmes to methadone maintenance treatment and introduce such innovative activities as HIV prevention among stimulant users and incorporation of rapid testing into harm reduction package.