Although antiretroviral medications (such as indinavir, efavirenz and nevirapine) are now available from Chinese hospitals, most HIV positive individuals still rely on traditional Chinese medicine (1). Many patients also alternate between traditional Chinese medicine and standardised pharmaceutical regimes, which in turn, creates problems with drug compliance and resistance. In one Beijing study for example, 20% to 30% of the subjects had become resistant to nevirapine after 9 months (24) . The costs of these drugs are also prohibitive for many Chinese HIV patients, although the price has fallen considerably in recent years. In 2001 for example, the average annual cost was US$10,000 (22) . By 2004, this had fallen to US$200 or US$300 (7) . Unfortunately, the drop in price was not uniform among all drug types and from all drug companies. For example, the main drug of choice for treating HIV in Africa and Thailand still remains prohibitively expensive in China (24) . Although China has recently offered to provide free HIV drug treatment for those who cannot afford it themselves, it remains to be seen whether the country can keep such a bold promise. Nevertheless, it is estimated that these costs may be minimised to about US$30 million per year, a figure which is probably affordable in the current economic climate (7) .