China has detected about 1,500 new foreign HIV/AIDS sufferers on the mainland in the past three years, according to the National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control and Prevention.

However, there are no official statistics showing how many foreigners with HIV/AIDS are currently on the mainland.

About 460 foreigners were receiving free antiretroviral therapy (ART) from local Chinese health providers, while the others would have had to pay for their own treatment, as there is no national standard.

"More foreign HIV/AIDS sufferers have come to or stayed longer in China because of increasing international exchanges, but there remains no care and treatment policies concerning them," Wu Zunyou, the national center's director, told China Daily.

Only those living in areas where the local health authority has decided to offer them free ART treatment are receiving it.

Southwest China's Yunnan province has the largest number of foreigners - about 1,000 - diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

Guangdong and Fujian provinces and Beijing also have large numbers, Wu said.

However, "given limited funding, Chinese nationals will always be given treatment and care priority despite the fact that the virus knows no races and nationalities," he added.

"More foreign patients are receiving free treatment but they're still the exceptional cases," Wu noted.

They are mainly in border areas in Yunnan and are married to Chinese, said Jia Manhong, director of the AIDS division under the Yunnan provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

She called for high-level and clearly defined government policies to help curb the disease among foreigners in China.

In Beijing, foreign patients pay for their own treatment, said Xiao Dong, director of the China Rainbow Health Organization in Beijing, which focuses on advocating for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

According to him, they've seen an increasing number of foreigners coming for help with HIV testing or treatment advice.

"The trend became more evident in 2010, when we began to receive more than a dozen foreigners each year seeking HIV/AIDS-related assistance," he said.

Before that, the figure stood at three to four a year.

The Rainbow center oversees four HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing clinics in the capital, which can provide English-language service.

"We offer free HIV screening and testing," he said.

Xiao's center helps refer foreign sufferers to designated AIDS hospitals for treatment.

"But the medical bills are on their own or covered by their medical insurance programs if available," he said.

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(China Daily 07/28/2014 page1)