Methadone saves over 7,000 drug users from HIV infection in China

METHADONE maintenance treatment (MMT) has saved more than 7,000 Chinese drug users from the risk of infection by HIV/AIDS, according to the Ministry of Health. The HIV/AIDS infection rate among drug users undergoing MMT has seen a sharp decline ever since the Chinese government legalized the medical usage of methadone in 2004, which is prescribed as a substitute for heroin in the treatment of drug addiction, said a ministry statement. Illicit drug use in China has risen rapidly since the late 1980s. Methadone, a synthesized narcotic that is less addictive than morphine or heroin, is widely used internationally as a way to help addicts break their addiction. Currently, the country has more than 708 methadone clinics, providing MMT for more than 300,000 drug users, said Wu Zunyou, director of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "At present, each methadone clinic has an average of 176 patients," Wu said. The HIV/AIDS infection rate among drug users receiving MMT fell from one percent in 2005 to the current rate of 0.38 per 100 people, he said. However, the infection rate among registered drug users who are not undergoing MMT stands between 2.07 and 9.96 for every 100 people, Wu added. In China's methadone clinics, a single dose of methadone costs just 10 yuan (about US$1.54). It helps addicts to end their dependence on injected drugs, helping stop the spread of AIDS and other contagious diseases. Such clinics are ubiquitous in the southwestern border provinces such as Yunnan and Guangxi, where transnational drug trafficking is common. Wu said that over the past seven years, MMT has allowed about 7,500 drug users to obtain jobs and has helped to reduce heroin consumption by 41.8 metric tons. The country's Regulation on AIDS Prevention and Control, which took effect in March 2006, stipulates that government bodies at various levels are obliged to launch drug replacement therapy programs to curb drug abuse and the spread of HIV/AI! DS.

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