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China increases use of traditional medicine to tackle AIDS
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During China’s 12th five-year plan (2010-2015), the HIV detection rate increased 68 percent, and the mortality of those with AIDS dropped 57 percent. (Shutterstock/File)
C
hinese officials have announced their five-year plan for HIV prevention and treatment, which will involve doubling the number of AIDS patients treated with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as part of the government’s push to increase the use of traditional practices in the country's medical system.
"The number of people living with AIDS who are treated with traditional Chinese medicine should be twice what it was in 2015," the State Council said in a statement on its website as quoted by AFP. They continued on, explaining that the idea was to "find a therapeutic regimen that combines traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicines”.
Read also: A peek into Guangzhou's traditional Chinese medicine museum
While TCM goes back thousands of years, its actual properties are questioned by scientists and doctors around the world. Earlier this year, researchers disproved a study that claimed that acupuncture could cure babies of colic. Nevertheless, China recently passed its first law related to traditional medicine, which will allow TCM practitioners to be licensed and open clinics.
The plan itself aims to reduce mother-to-baby HIV transmission rates to less than 4 percent and to reduce male-to-male transition rates by 10 percent.
During China’s 12th five-year plan (2010-2015), the HIV detection rate increased 68 percent, and the mortality of those with AIDS dropped 57 percent, as reported by Xinhua. In the 2015 report, the country told the United Nations that it had 501,000 cases of HIV/AIDS as of the end of 2014. (sul/kes)
