AIDS IN TIBETAN AREAS OF SICHUAN PROVINCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000012

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND S/STC
DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IRF AND TIBET COORDINATOR
BANGKOK FOR USAID/MSTIEVATER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/11/2027
TAGS: TBIO EAID ECON PHUM PGOV CH
SUBJECT: AIDS IN TIBETAN AREAS OF SICHUAN PROVINCE

REF: CHENGDU 947

CHENGDU 00000012 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, United States
Consulate, Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: During a recent conference on "Social Changes
and Development in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and other
Tibetan Areas," a researcher from the Sichuan Provincial Ethnic
Research Institute said the HIV/AIDS situation in Tibetan areas
of Sichuan Province has grown more serious in the last year.
Drug use and sexual contact are the main transmission routes,
but there is evidence the disease has started to spread to the
general population, the researcher claimed. A representative of
a foreign non-governmental organization working in Tibetan areas
of Sichuan said HIV/AIDS is a "disaster waiting to happen." The
fact that infection rates and other data were not readily
available in Ganzi Prefecture is indicative of both the
cautiousness of local health authorities as well as the
sensitive nature of drug use and commercial sex work in Tibetan
areas. End Summary.

Background
--------------

2. (SBU) Consulate recently attended a December 9-11 conference
in Chengdu on "Social Changes and Development in the Tibetan
Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan Areas," co-organized
by the Social Economic Research Institute of the China Center
for Tibet Study and the Tibet Study Institute of Sichuan
University. The conference was attended by over 100 people from
the TAR and other Tibetan areas. Approximately 70 scholars,
8-10 of whom were ethnic Tibetans, presented academic papers.
The main themes of the conference were the construction of a
"harmonious society," health care, environmental protection,
poverty alleviation, economic development, and NGO involvement
in Tibetan areas. This cable will focus on HIV/AIDS. The
topics of "harmonious society" and economic development will be
reported septel.

Tibetan Areas of Sichuan Non-Transparent on HIV/AIDS
-------------- --------------

3. (SBU) Shang Yunchuan, a scholar from the Sichuan Provincial
Ethnic Research Institute claimed during her presentation at the
conference that the exact number of HIV positive individuals in
Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on Sichuan Province is
"classified," but admitted the number of infected Tibetan males
was in the double digits, and females, in the single digits.
She said HIV/AIDS was first diagnosed in the Tibetan injecting
drug user (IDU) population in Ganzi in September 2002. Shang
stated that between January 2005 and August 2006, Ganzi
Prefecture had an increased annual infection rate of over 170
percent, but did not substantiate her calculation with any data.
Shang added that the number of HIV infections in Aba Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture, which also discovered its first HIV case
in 2002, had 40 HIV positive cases by Jun 2006. (Note: Shang
did not comment on why the numbers for Ganzi were "classified,"
when she was able to cite a figure for Aba. End Note.) Shang
opined that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has grown more serious in
Tibetan areas of Sichuan Province in the last year.

Drug Use and Sex Main Transmission Routes
--------------

4. (SBU) Shang said the main HIV transmission routes in Tibetan
areas of Sichuan, as in other minority areas, are injecting drug
use and sexual transmission. In Ganzi Prefecture where HIV
carriers range in age from 19 to 45, 57 percent were infected
through drug use. In Aba, in contrast, 93 percent of patients
were infected through sexual contact. She asserted there are
approximately 800 "hidden sex workers" in "200 highly dangerous
places" in 18 counties of Ganzi Prefecture.


HIV/AIDS "Dangerously Close" to General Population
-------------- --------------

5. (SBU) Shang opined that HIV/AIDS is dangerously close to
expanding from high risks groups to the general population in
Tibetan areas of Sichuan Province. Shang's conference paper
said that although drug-injection has been the main route of
infection for HIV/AIDS for many years, there are now cases of
maternal-child transmission and couple to couple transmission.
Specifically, in Ganzi Prefecture, HIV/AIDS cases have been
discovered among government employees, police and school
workers. Shang said two AIDS patients have died in Aba
Prefecture since 2002. She did not provide a number of deaths
in Ganzi, but reiterated her earlier point about the large
number of commercial sex workers.


6. (C) A foreign representative of an international NGO working

CHENGDU 00000012 002.2 OF 002


in Ganzi, also present at the conference, echoed Shang's concern
about the disease eventually bridging to the general population.
The contact categorized AIDS in Sichuan's Tibetan areas as a
"disaster waiting to happen." He said his NGO conducted maternal
and child health training for over 2000 women in five villages
in Ganzi in 2005-6 and found no indication that HIV had gained a
foothold in that population. While the contact agreed with
Shang's general conclusions, he lamented the small sample size
used for the research and said the study would have been more
useful with hard data.

Comment
--------------

7. (C) The fact that infection rates and other data were not
readily available to this researcher in Ganzi Prefecture is
indicative of both the cautiousness of local health authorities
as well as the sensitive nature of drug use and commercial sex
work in Tibetan areas. Post has heard complaints from NGOs and
bilateral project representatives working in the TAR that it is
very challenging to work on HIV/AIDS in Tibet and to collect
data on high-risk populations. Given that the China-UK HIV/AIDS
Prevention Project has carried out work in 8 of Ganzi's 18
counties since 2001 - 2006, it is somewhat surprising there is
not more publicly shared data generated from the five years of
bilateral cooperation.
BOUGHNER