The southwestern province of Yunnan is launching an innovative HIV testing confirmation method to substantially reduce the waiting time for diagnosis and treatment.

The latest approach, comprising four HIV rapid tests using different kits, is far more efficient in terms of time and cost than the current laboratory-based HIV confirmatory testing, according to Lu Lin, deputy director of the Yunnan Health and Family Planning Commission.

In hard-to-reach mountainous areas of Yunnan, patients may wait more than two weeks for a final diagnosis due to the time taken for a sample to reach a designated confirmatory laboratory. Such laboratories are only available in large counties and cities.

"That (the long waiting time) increases the anxiety of those waiting and is more likely to lose track of the sufferer during this period, thus delaying the treatment," Lu said. "In the long run, that would hamper the fight against the AIDS epidemic."

With the new method, HIV diagnosis can be obtained in half an hour and with almost the same accuracy as laboratory-dependent confirmatory testing.

Jia Manhong, assistant director of the provincial disease control and prevention center, said, "The new testing approach is expected to become mainstream practice in the future."

It can even be used in rural grassroots settings and reaches out to as many people as possible for testing, she said. "Only by extending the HIV testing coverage can we detect more sufferers and give them timely treatment."

This will serve as one of the crucial AIDS intervention tools to better curb the epidemic in general, she added.

Since 2004, the province has reported an average of more than 10,000 HIV/AIDS cases each year, government statistics show. About 15 million HIV tests are carried out annually in the province, which now has the second-largest number of living patients - about 98,000 - of all provinces.