Construction of the country’s first AIDS care center will begin in Kunming before the end of this year.

Wu Xiaoqing, the vice-governor of Yunnan province and chairman of the AIDS prevention working committee, said “we are currently doing preparatory work for the construction of the Yunnan province AIDS care center, and hope to start construction before the end of this year.”

The AIDS care center will require an investment of approximately 160 million RMB. It will be 28 kilometers from Kunming city district, and when complete will be able to treat 200 patients at a time. It will be the country’s first treatment center specializing in receiving HIV and AIDS patients.

According to the provincial leadership office on AIDS prevention, the AIDS care center will provide anti-retroviral treatment to people with HIV and AIDS, conduct behavioral intervention clinical research and drug development research. It will also provide AIDS-related information and counseling, psychological care, and health worker training to provide all sorts of models of care and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Yunnan province is a “heavy epidemic area” in the country, with 16,141 cases of HIV infection and 1,063 AIDS cases reported by the end of June this year, one of the highest numbers in the country. All along, Yunnan has not had a specialized institution to treat HIV infections and people with AIDS, and could not satisfy their needs for treatment, nursing, and care. In March this year, Yunnan province officially decided to create a testing, treatment and care center for HIV/AIDS.

Wu Xiaoqing also explained that Yunnan province is currently cooperating with a US-China joint treatment project, under which 80 HIV+ people are receiving free standardized anti-retroviral treatment.