Phurbu Thinley
Beijing, June 16: Three people have died of AIDS in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), according to Yuzhan Lhaco, deputy director of the Institute for Prevention and Control of AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) with region’s Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, China’s state media report said.
The report also stated that the number of reported HIV carriers and people with full-blown AIDS has risen to 41 in TAR, compared to 30 cases last year.
HIV/AIDS infections have been found in urban and rural areas and more men than women have been infected, Yuzhan was quoted as saying.
Two state-level outposts are monitoring the spread of HIV/AIDS and the Tibet government has set up a HIV/AIDS prevention and control center along with counseling and testing services, the report says.
“Testing is free of charge and HIV carriers are treated with free medicines,” Yuzhan said, adding that the vast region and sparse population makes it difficult to monitor the spread of HIV/AIDS.
According to the Communist government’s mouth piece, official statistics show that among the 650,000 Chinese living with HIV, 44.3% were infected through drug injection, 10.7% through blood transfusions and 43.6% through unsafe sex.
The report, however, did not indicate the reason for the rising cases of the killer disease in Tibet.
Critics and exile Tibetan government have been raising concerns against China’s discriminatory policy, which they say has resulted in more prostitutes being driven into Tibetan cultural areas from its neighbouring regions. Reports of increasing prostitutes in Tibet have become a growing concern to Tibetans lately.
