China probes leak of confidential info of HIV patients

A suspected phone fraud targeting HIV-positive people in China has emerged in which confidential information like bank details has been leaked, prompting authorities to order a police probe, state-run media reported on Monday.

People with HIV nationwide have reportedly received phone calls from individuals claiming to work for the government.

The callers allegedly attempt to collect service fees for "government subsidies for the HIV-infected," Xinhua news agency reported.

This has raised suspicions that the personal information of HIV-positive people has been leaked, it said, adding that China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ordered a police probe into the suspected phone fraud.

Organisations or individuals must not disclose names, addresses, pictures, medical records and other information of HIV-positive people, AIDS patients and their families without consent, a spokesperson for the CDC said.

Providing more details the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in a press release said they have been informed of the suspected leak of confidential information about people living with HIV in China over the past week.

Chinese health and public security authorities are investigating what appears to be a serious case of fraud, where people posing as government officials contacted people living with HIV and promised they would be provided with financial allowances in exchange for their banking information, the release said.

As per last year's official statistics, six out of every 10,000 people in China may be infected with HIV/AIDS.

The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China was stated to be round 575,000 last year with 177,000 deaths, the CDC said last year.

Describing the situation as a mild pandemic, the CDC said men who have sex with men have become the group with the highest infection rate.

Around eight per cent of men who have sex with men in China are living with HIV/AIDS, according to 2015 statistics.