SIDA en China

The former American President, Bill Clinton, has urged the Chinese government to do more about AIDS and to do it quickly. A worldwide survey commissioned by the BBC shows that people in China are among the world's most ignorant about AIDS and the HIV virus.

This report from Elizabeth Blunt.

Perhaps the most startling result of the BBC survey was that fourteen percent of the people they talked to in China didn't even know what AIDS was, the worst result in any of the countries included; they couldn't identify it as a disease, or a virus, or something that you might die from.

And these weren't impoverished peasants cut off from the wider world; they lived in five of China's largest cities, and they were available to be interviewed on the telephone. Those who did know what AIDS was were asked more questions. Was AIDS one of their main concerns, they were asked.

On the whole it wasn't; most people were more worried about other health problems. And did they know how you could catch the virus? On this point the Chinese respondents were quite well informed --nearly ninety per cent correctly identified the three main routes of infection-- unprotected sex, dirty hypodermic needles, and mother-to-child transmission.

But a third thought --quite wrongly-- that you could also catch it from using the same lavatory as an infected person, and nearly as many thought sharing personal items like cups and towels could spread the virus. In China, for Bill Clinton to shake hands with an infected person sent a powerful message.

The full result of the survey -- which covered fifteen countries -- will be published next Sunday as part of the BBC's season of special programmes about the AIDS and HIV epidemic.

Elizabeth Blunt, BBC, London.

startling
sorpresivo

impoverished
muy pobres

cut off
aislados

wider world
resto del mundo

concerns
preocupaciones

On the whole
en general

respondents
personas que han respondido a un cuestionario

hypodermic needles
agujas hipodérmicas

quite wrongly
equivocadamente

a powerful message
un mensaje importante, conmovedor, contundente.