West must not give up on AIDS fight
"It's very hard for us to obtain an exact number due to our
limited ability to monitor and report the epidemic situation
in this age group," Hao Yang, deputy director of the Health
Ministry's disease control bureau, told a health seminar in
Beijing last year.
"Older people are more prone to having medical conditions
that require surgeries and hospitals are stricter on
pre-operative checks -- that's how many of them are
notified of their HIV status for the first time."
Researchers say the lure of easy sex with prostitutes -- the
average price paid a relatively modest $5.5 -- and the lack
of safe sex knowledge among their generation have
exposed an increasing number of Chinese senior citizens
to the danger of HIV/AIDS.