Over 1,200 Beijing students infected with HIV-related illness: report

More than 1,200 university students in Beijing were reportedly infected with HIV or had an HIV-related illness by June 2017, with most cases transmitted through sex between males.

Among university students aged 18 to 22 years in 59 colleges and universities in Beijing, 722 have been infected with HIV or with HIV-related illness by June 2017, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Wednesday citing the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. In 2017, 50 cases were added.

Among the 722 infected students, 711 are male; the main route of transmission was sexual behavior between males, which accounted for 86.7 percent, the report said.

Students generally lack knowledge about reproductive health and sex, which has led to the high proportion of sexual transmission of HIV, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The Beijing Municipal Education Commission has ordered colleges and universities to offer courses on scientific and systematic knowledge about sex and reproductive health. Teachers at colleges and universities should be well trained and ready to answer related questions.

“Blood transfusions used to be the main route of HIV transmission in China, but it has been shifting to sexual transmission in recent years. The problem is that the research and strategies have focused on blood transfusions,” said Shao Yiming, an AIDS expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shao noted that research and strategies should reflect the changes, and that prevention work should be conducted first in countries like China, where most of the people are not infected.

A teacher training program focusing on teenage sex education was conducted in Beijing in January. About 50 teachers in 35 schools in Beijing’s Fengtai district joined the week-long program.