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AIDS outcasts left to suffer alone

By Wang Hongyi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-01 09:47

Standing before you is a housewife, a six-year-old child, a prostitute and a homosexual lawyer. All of them are HIV positive. Ask yourself, if there were some way you could magically cure one of them, which would you save?

It will not be a surprise to learn most people usually choose the child or the housewife, who are universally regarded as "innocents".

A lonely AIDS victim strolls through the corridors at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which is in the city's Jinshan district and attached to Fudan University, on June 24. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

The test was one of the many used this month during a two-day media training course to promote fair and accurate reporting of the AIDS issue, and to reduce discrimination. It was jointly organized by UNAIDS, the joint United Nations (UN) program on HIV and AIDS, Fudan University in Shanghai and China AIDS Info.

"China's media is expanding at a furious pace and it is important the AIDS issue is covered responsibly," said Xiong Lei, senior editor at Xinhua News Agency and one of the program tutors. "This course was a major step forward and sets a benchmark for media reporting on the issue."

The nation has 276,000 reported cases of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), with 45,000 new cases last year, according to government data. However, experts believe there could be as many as 700,000 people living with HIV in China, including 85,000 AIDS victims.

The virus is most prevalent among drug users who inject narcotics, homosexual men, blood plasma donors and sex workers, while migrant workers also make up a large proportion of the infected.

UNAIDS estimates among these groups there could be a further 30 to 50 million people at risk of exposure.

But although scientific advances are allowing sufferers to survive for longer, there has been little, if any breakthrough in solving the stigma.

"During the past decade, the life quality and longevity of people with HIV and AIDS has improved significantly thanks to the growing use of anti-retroviral drugs, or 'cocktail therapy'," said Lu Hongzhou, director of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which specializes in care for HIV and AIDS patients. "But the drugs do not treat discrimination, which continues to be the major obstacle to prevention and care in China.

"HIV and AIDS patients, as well as their families, are often denied their rights to proper healthcare, education and employment, and face the additional psychological pain of being isolated or bullied.

"Even some doctors who are educated in the virus refuse to treat people who are HIV positive. One reason is their own fear, another is that they worry other patients will not come to their clinics for fear of infection," Lu said.

Lu added that HIV and AIDS sufferers are usually transferred to specialist health units and said more than 80 percent of patients at his clinic had been sent by other hospitals.

Ding Ding (not her real name), who lives in Beijing and is HIV positive, said discrimination was a serious problem, even in the capital. She recalled: "Years ago, I had a cold and went to a local hospital. I told the doctor I was HIV positive and he refused to treat me. I actually thought about hiding the truth from the doctor, but that's irresponsible.

"Other sufferers face the same problems. Once the hospital staffers see on your health record you've been infected, they won't see you, even if you just need treatment for minor ailments."

A random street survey in Shanghai conducted by China Daily this month found 22 of the 30 people asked said they would cut their contact with someone if they knew he or she was confirmed HIV positive, while 24 agreed AIDS patients should be isolated to a certain degree from the rest of society.

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