Almost Two-Fifths of Local Government Officials in China Believe the Country Has Developed an AIDS Vaccine, Poll Shows

Almost two-fifths of local government officials in China believe the country has developed an AIDS vaccine, according to a survey of more than 3,000 officials, Xinhua/People's Daily reports. According to the poll, by the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, more than 60% of local government officials lacked awareness about HIV prevention and control, with 38.01% believing a vaccine against the disease had been developed in China and 24.46% saying they did not know about HIV/AIDS vaccine research. Only 37.53% of respondents correctly responded that China had not developed a vaccine against the disease. The poll was conducted ahead of an official training course on publicizing HIV prevention and control. After the course, officials had a greater awareness about the disease, according to a source from the Party School (Xinhua/People's Daily, 10/12).