Researchers: Anti-Retroviral Drugs Cut HIV Deaths by 60% in China

Researchers have announced that anti-retroviral drugs have cut deaths caused by HIV by more than 60% in China.

Chinese scientists from the National Scientists of Aids Control revealed that the overall HIV mortality rates in treatment-eligible adults with HIV decreased from 39.3 per 100 people in 2002 to 14.2 per 100 people in 2009, a difference of 63.8%.

China introduced free anti-retroviral drugs in 2002, reaching more than 60% of patients by 2009. Of 323,252 people reported as having HIV in China by the end of 2009, 145 484 (45%) were identified as treatment-eligible and included in this analysis, said the researchers.

But the experts have said that a lot more work needs to be done, and that there was an "urgent need exists for earlier HIV diagnosis and better access to treatment for injecting drug users and patient