People in Southwest China's Yunnan Province who test positive for HIV are required to inform their spouses within a month after the tests are confirmed positive, according to a new provincial regulation.

If an HIV carrier fails to do so, the spouse would be told by a special medical worker, the regulation says.

Informing people and their spouses of the outcome of an HIV test was a critical part of AIDS screening, said Chen Juemin, head of the Yunnan Provincial Health Bureau.

The new regulation stipulates what should be told to whom and how, including informing people in prison or otherwise in custody.

According to the regulation, people who test positive should be the first to know. It is mandatory for medical workers to tell a person who tests positive face to face. If the test is negative, telephone or other means of relaying the information are acceptable.

Spouses of people who test positive should be informed, whether by their spouses themselves or by medical workers. Free HIV tests and consultation services are available for the spouses of HIV carriers.

In another development, a village in Southwest China's Sichuan Province has created a bias-free environment for HIV/AIDS carriers.

The village is believed to have the country's second-largest number of HIV carriers after Wenlou Village in Henan Province.

In February 2002, the village started a trial implementation of the project by circulating a questionnaire, which found that what HIV carriers wanted most was the eradication of prejudice against them, said Wu Xiaomin, a doctor at an epidemic station in the village who oversaw the implementation of the project.

Since then, the village has held 40 training classes teaching nearly 4,000 county officials, medical workers, teachers, students, policemen, HIV carriers and their families how the virus is spread and how to prevent it.

Editor: Catherine