Posted on 20 January 2010

The Beijing State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine has stated that the pilot program to treat HIV/AIDS with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has benefited 9,267 people.

A total of 160 million Yuan ($23.4 million) has been spent on the program which was jointly initiated by the Ministry of Health and the administration in five provinces in 2004. It has since been expanded to include another 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Xu Zhiren, director of the medical department of the administration has stated that statistics from the clinic analysis indicate that TCM could help with symptoms including fever, coughing, loss of energy and diarrhea.

The program has focused on personnel training, traditional medicine, clinical investigation and management. Treatment for those affected has been provided free of charge and as of June 2009 a total of 5,972 people were receiving treatment; 1,570 of them had been treated for 48 months.

According to statistics released at a national AICS control meeting, as of October 31^st, 2009, a total of 319,877 people in China had been registered HIV positive, including 102,323 AIDS patients and 49,845 deaths.