Border clinic at forefront of HIV/AIDS fight

More than 60 km from Ruili, near a methadone treatment outlet in Laying, a town in Longchuan county, low bamboo fences stand along the border between China and Myanmar.

At times when the border patrols are not strictly enforced, Yang Ronghua from Myanmar crosses the fence and walks to the outlet to take his daily methadone medication.

He jokingly describes himself as a "treatment stowaway" and can see his home from the second-floor balcony of the clinic.

"It's convenient for me to take methadone here," said the 37-year-old, who has been on the therapy for four years at the clinic. He previously injected himself with heroin.

In Myanmar, the nearest methadone outlet he can go to is 42 km away.

Cun Daiqi, a doctor at the Laying clinic, said more than 30 people were crossing the border each day from Myanmar for the treatment in China.

He said they cross the border frequently and are covered by the AIDS intervention programs. "That also helps with HIV control on our side."

Throughout Yunnan, consensus has been reached to include local non-Chinese under the general AIDS control efforts, according to Lu Lin, deputy director of the Yunnan Health and Family Planning Commission.

Foreigners account for 10 percent of the 10,000 annually detected new HIV/AIDS cases in Yunnan, he said, citing the provincial epidemic surveillance network.

They are mainly from the neighboring countries of Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. Some work in Yunnan and some moved to the province after marrying local Chinese.

To curb a disease that knows no national borders, a united frontline against HIV/AIDS has been formed among the countries, Lu said.

"We cooperate in information-sharing, staff training, disease prevention, screening and treatment within the union," he said.

To date, more than 1,300 anti-AIDS workers from the three countries have been trained in Yunnan.