Southern Metropolis Daily (SMD) reported earlier this month that of the more than 1,200 people in Guangzhou who tested newly positive for HIV this year, nearly one in every five of those cases involved men who have sex with men (MSM).

60% of the newly-infected are from out-of-province

SMD also reported that to mark World AIDS Day on December 1, Guangzhou opened the city’s first HIV/AIDS services outpatient facility dealing solely with gay men earlier this year. As of early December, the center had already been visited by 3,000 men, 300 of whom are now receiving long-term treatment.

“Incomplete statistics in monitoring and reporting the spread of the epidemic,” says Wang Ming, director of the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control (CDC), “show that last year, the number of newly-detected HIV positive cases fell compared to 2009. This year, the number sprung up to more than 1,200, between 8%-10% higher than last year’s cases.

“Sixty percent of those of them are migrants,” Wang said, “and among gay men, rates are soaring and now account for 20% of new infections.” Wang added that sexual contact is the primary means of transmission, accounting now for 75% of new cases while the proportion of infections resulting from intravenous drug use has dropped comparatively; the number of infections among those over the age of 50 have also increased and are due mostly to sexual contact.

Xu Huifang, section chief of the Guangzhou CDC AIDS Prevention Department, told the newspaper that 70% of gay men are active in online dating and have an average of 5-6 sex partners. “If any of them test positive,” Xu said, “people in contact with them should also go get tested.”

Guangzhou’s gay men’s HIV clinic is located inside the CDC building on Jiaochang East Road (较场东路), next to the entrance to the underground Update Mall opposite China Plaza via Hero Square. “Weekends are busy here,” said one clinic staffer, “with usually more than 30 people dropping in.”

Xu also emphasized the need for post-test counseling services, saying that nearly 300 HIV positive gay men come regularly for psychological guidance and free testing. SMD quotes one specialist as saying that current resources are sufficient to treat around 60% of those who test positive.