VZCZCXRO5195
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0012/01 0110758
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 110758Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2353
INFO RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 2836
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

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