AIDS ignorance and "tragic stigma" are hampering China's efforts to fight its epidemic, a top activist said Thursday.
A recent UNAIDS-sponsored survey of 6,000 people in six Chinese cities found two-thirds said they would be unwilling to live with an HIV-infected person, and a fifth said they would be unwilling to care for someone with the virus, even a relative. Almost 10 percent thought working in the same room as an infected person would be enough to contract HIV, the survey showed.
"Everywhere I have gone they have reported to me the high levels of stigma, ostracism, and discrimination that people with HIV/AIDS experience in China," Edwin Cameron, a South African Supreme Court judge who is HIV-positive, said during an awareness-raising visit.
The government provides free, Chinese-made antiretrovirals to HIV/AIDS patients. While 35,000 to 40,000 are on treatment, more than double that number are in need of ARVs. Many are reluctant to be tested or learn their status for fear of being labeled HIV-positive, said Cameron. "People are sick and dying of AIDS and all of it is unnecessary," he said.
Though it is officially illegal to discriminate against people with HIV/AIDS, signs banning patients from places like gyms and bathhouses are common, and blood tests are sometimes required for jobs.
In addition, the government sends mixed signals, sporadically cracking down on HIV/AIDS activists and imposing visa bans on most HIV-infected visitors to China.
10/30/08
China AIDS Patients Dying Because of “Tragic Stigma”
Source: Reuters:: Emma Graham-Harrison; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention