Scepticism over claim that Henan blood sales stopped

Health activists have labelled as unbelievable a government survey which claims no blood is being sold in Henan , the mainland province hit hardest by HIV/Aids.

The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that Henan had the highest rate of voluntary blood donation in the country - 100 per cent of blood collected - followed by Hainan with 99.85 per cent, Shandong with 99.83 per cent and Shanxi with 99.31 per cent.

'It's just unbelievable. Many people in Henan are afraid of giving blood after the Aids outbreak in the mid-1990s,' outspoken activist Hu Jia said. 'It's true that many unlicensed blood collection stations have been shut down. But it's hard to comprehend that there's no more blood selling cases there.'

Mr Hu said the high ratios in the other provinces were also 'highly unlikely'.

He said the government of Henan, one of the mainland's most impoverished provinces, might have fabricated the figures to protect its image.

Many farmers in Henan contracted HIV after selling blood plasma in the late 1980s to mid-1990s to unlicensed blood collection centres with poor sanitary conditions.

'Underground blood-selling has largely been eliminated in Henan thanks to public awareness of the risk of getting HIV,' said To Chung, chairman of Hong Kong-based Aids advocacy group the Chi Heng Foundation. 'However, underground blood-selling still exists in Henan and other parts of China.'