Food delivery company criticized for saying no to HBV carrier

Meituan, a major meal delivery company, was criticized for discriminatory hiring policies against hepatitis B virus carriers.

According to a report by thepaper.cn on Monday, a man in East China's Jiangxi province tried to apply for a part-time job as a Meituan deliveryman in May. When he checked the terms of the food delivery service, he found that a provision prohibited "carriers of viral hepatitis" from applying for the job. Therefore, he quit his application.

The man's experience drew attention from Yi You Charity, a NGO that focuses on issues of discrimination against HBV carriers.

Lei Chuang, the founder of Yi You Charity, said that Meituan's description of hepatitis carriers is discriminatory against people infected with hepatitis B and might worsen the prejudice against them.

Only people with hepatitis A virus and E virus are banned from engaging in food-related industries, according to a 2016 disease list issued by the former National Health and Family Planning Commission (now the National Health Commission).

HBV is spread through the exchange of bodily fluids, such as contaminated blood, unprotected sex, shared needles and from mother to children. It cannot be contracted through normal contacts, such as shaking hands or hugging.

Statistics show that more than 100 million people in China, roughly 10 percent of the total population, are chronic carriers of the disease.

However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the hepatitis B virus among the general public. A survey in 2017 suggested that about one in three people believed HBV can be contracted through working or dining together.

A 2011 survey indicated that 60 percent of the country's 180 State-run companies polled included HBV checks in their pre-employment physical examinations.