RESEARCH ARTICLE
Impact of HIV/AIDS on Social Relationships in Rural China
Yurong Zhang1, Xiulan Zhang1, Tamara Hanko Aleong2, Esme Fuller-Thomson*, 2, 3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 67
Last Page: 73
Publisher ID: TOAIDJ-5-67
DOI: 10.2174/1874613601105010067
Article History:
Received Date: 17/5/2010Revision Received Date: 20/2/2011
Acceptance Date: 24/3/2011
Electronic publication date: 15/7/2011
Collection year: 2011

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Social support promotes greater medical compliance, better immune system functioning and slows the progress of HIV/AIDS. One in every 50 People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) is Chinese, yet little is known about the impact of HIV/AIDS on social relationships in China. This study compares the characteristics of those who report that HIV/AIDS had a substantial impact versus a modest impact on their social relationships. We obtained data from a survey of 866 PLWHA in rural China, which was conducted in 2006-2007 in the three Chinese provinces with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were performed. The analysis shows that PLWHA who had full-blown AIDS (OR= 1.53; 95% CI=1.09-2.13) and those who were poor (OR=2.19; 95% CI=1.52-3.16) reported greater impact on their social relationships. The results lay a solid foundation for designing effective policy initiatives and intervention programs aimed at alleviating the impact of HIV/AIDS on social relationships and improving the quality of life of PLWHA.