The China's Ministry of Health announced recently that the government has promised free medical treatment to Chinese AIDS victims who are in financial difficulty. Their children will be given free education.

This represents an important step taken by the country to work toward the realization of real benefits for its people. And when it comes to AIDS, the initiative is worthy of praise.

AIDS seemed to be a remote word to the mass population of China in the 1980s, when the disease was already causing serious concerns in the Western world. In the first half of the 1990s, Chinese people started to talk about AIDS, but never in public and the topic was always confined to people sharing the most intimate relationships. In the latter half of the 1990s, high school students and college students began to be told about AIDS. But their knowledge was often limited to "a very dirty, very dangerous, very contagious sexual disease, having nothing to do with me". I remember when I was in high school, my classmates and I had an impression that only prostitutes and playboys would get the disease. It was not for bookworms.

But things have turned around sharply during the past few years. According to a report prepared by the WHO, the total number of AIDS victims and HIV carriers in the world had reached 42 million by the end of last year. The disease is spreading at the speed of 11 HIV victims per minute throughout the world. Some 100 million people will become new victims in the next 10 years, 95 per cent of whom will be from developing countries (see the December issue of "Popular Medicine").

On another frontier, with the increasing popularity of medical science about AIDS, people began to learn that contact with even a tiny drop of blood from an AIDS-infected source could transmit the disease. There was some panic about this. When I was giving a blood donation last year, many people in the same situation had the fear that giving a blood donation involved some risk of getting AIDS.

After the SARS blow, it has been more often felt that life is full of dangers that are very close, unexpected and fatal. People began to think about the following questions: did I cut my fingers today? Did I have an injection today? Did my tooth bleed today? What combs did my hair-dresser use today?

The road from a taboo topic to a public concern under discussion shows a change in people's mentality. But more importantly, it illustrates one problem: the disease has indeed been developing at a very fast pace in this country. Too fast for the topic to remain under the table and for squeamish reactions.

It is good news that the government is publicly and officially talking about the disease. As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said: "The only successful way to fight the disease is to talk about it in public as the first step. Silence is death."

Moreover, besides public talk, a solemn promise has been made by the government that the disease will not go unchecked merely because of financial problems. This marks a progress in the promotion of human rights in China. It is especially precious and courageous for a developing country like China, with an immense population and economic imbalances, to give such full and determined promises. This is a responsible attitude and a huge contribution not only to the health security of its own nationals but also to the international community as a whole.

In terms of the money we pay to AIDS victims, we taxpayers must understand that this is a cost to be shouldered by the whole of society. It is the price for living with others under the same roof.

starcomment@yahoo.com