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China Opens Gay Clinic
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
October 29, 2006 - 4:00 pm ET
(Beijing) The Chinese government has opened a
health clinic for gays - the first of its kind in the Communist country - amid a
growing HIV/AIDS crisis.
The clinic will have a one year test period, after
which its effectiveness will be judged. It will provide free HIV tests and
treatment for the virus and for other sexually transmitted diseases the Xinhua
news agency reports.
The clinic will be run by the Disease Prevention and Control Center
and an HIV/AIDS volunteer group in the Chaoyang District.
The country has spent nearly $36
million on AIDS treatment in the last three years. but it has come under
criticism from the West for lagging in HIV/AIDS education.
The Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS, has
warned that up to 10 million people in China could be infected by 2010 without
more aggressive prevention measures.
A report issued in March by China's Ministry of
Health showed that only about 30 percent of the country's college students have
a full understanding of HIV/AIDS.
It is estimated there are 48 million gays in
China.
Gay life is mainly underground and the government
has had a mixed relationship with the community.
In June it began a "clean-up" of gay Web
sites. China's government controlled internet domain-name registration company
shut down several popular gay Web sites under what the paper said was pressure
from police.
Two of the sites disseminated HIV/AIDS
information and allowed people to discuss coming out.
©365Gay.com 2006
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