China will double the number of HIV/AIDS patients to be treated using traditional Chinese medicine as part of the country's five-year plan, officials said on Sunday.

"The number of people living with AIDS who are treated with traditional Chinese medicine should be twice what it was in 2015," the State Council noted. The country plans a collaboration between traditional Chinese medicine departments and national health and family planning commissions "to find a therapeutic regimen which combines traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicines."

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The recent move shows China's aim to promote and publicize the traditional Chinese medicine practice, which uses herbal mixtures and physical therapies like acupuncture to treat ailments. The core of the plan is to improve quality of life and reduce fatalities.

China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there has been a steep increase to the number of people affected with HIV/AIDS aging 15 to 24 years old. The figure increased fourfold between 2010 and 2016, The Brics Post reported. Moreover, in the first nine months last year, over 96,000 HIV/AIDS cases have also been reported in China. An estimated 200,000 people have also died, although the timeframe is not clear, while around 654,000 are living with the disease in China.

Last December, China's National People's Congress Standing Committee passed a new law to incorporate traditional Chinese medicine into the country's healthcare system. It is slated to take effect on July 1 this year and will require country-level governments and above to put up traditional Chinese medicine institutes on public hospitals as well as maternity and pediatric wards.

Beijing will also require all practitioners to pass qualifying exams and obtain a license before they are legally allowed to work in hospitals, clinics, or in private.   

TagsTraditional Chinese Medicine, TCM herbs, acupunture, HIV, AIDS Cure