The nation’s HIV infection rate is on the rise, with one person diagnosed with the virus every four hours, the Taiwan Lourdes Association said.
As of Oct. 31, there were 22,491 reported cases of HIV in Taiwan, with most of the infected in the 20-to-39 age bracket, association secretary-general Paul Hsu (徐森杰) said, citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The number of HIV infections is growing, with an average of 180 people testing positive each month, he said. To acquaint the public with issues affecting HIV patients, the association surveyed 407 HIV-positive people nationwide in October and last month, he said.
“We found that more and more people are becoming worried about the government’s plan to stop offering free AIDS treatment,” he said.
Because of the growing number of AIDS cases in the country, the CDC has been exploring the possibility of subsidizing AIDS treatment rather than providing it free of cost as it has been doing for years.
The cost of treatment for each AIDS patient in the country is estimated at NT$30,000 (US$930) per month, which is equivalent to the average monthly salary of an office worker.
In the survey, about 45.2 percent of the respondents said they were following the government’s AIDS treatment policy closely, according to Hsu.
Other concerns mentioned were the development of a cure, maintaining good health and ways of leading a happy life, he said.
People diagnosed with HIV need a lot of support and attention from both the government and the public, Hsu said.
“With proper healthcare, persons infected with HIV can actually lead a normal life,” he said.
At a press conference on Wednesday, an HIV-positive man who identified himself as Kuan (管) said he had just returned from a four-day biking tour in China.
“I make sure I take good care of myself by keeping good hours and working out regularly,” he said. “A lot of fear originates from concern for self-protection and lack of understanding.”
“I have learned over the years to cope with my condition and hope we can gain public acceptance,” he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
RSS