Belatedly, China spreads word about HIV prevention - By Barbara Demick
Reporting from
Not until three months ago, when he got back the results of his blood test, had the 22-year-old art student at a
Belatedly,
To mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, a banner of a giant red ribbon was draped from the huge National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, used in the Summer Olympics. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao were widely photographed with their arms around HIV-positive people. The state media have been filled with photographs and editorials about combating the discrimination and isolation felt by AIDS victims.
"Time to recognize that AIDS is a disease, not a shame," extolled the official New China News Agency recently.
The publicity blitz is surprising for an authoritarian government that has resorted to cover-up and denial when it came to HIV and AIDS. Over the years, activists have been arrested and harassed for sharing information about acquired immune deficiency syndrome. One of the best known, Hu Jia, has been in prison for almost a year on charges of "subverting state power."
The extent of ignorance about sexually transmitted diseases is staggering. A recent poll of 6,000 Chinese that included students, migrant workers and blue- and white-collar workers found that 48% thought the AIDS virus was transmitted by mosquitoes.
Yet it is clear that AIDS awareness has come out of the closet here, with increasing resources devoted to the 700,000 or more Chinese who are HIV-positive.
Although
HIV is also spreading fast among intravenous drug users in western
"It is very difficult to stop AIDS among drug users. The local governments don't want us working with this population because they consider them criminals," said Ju He, a Beijing-based AIDS activist.
At times when Ju's group has tried to distribute clean needles to prevent drug users from spreading the virus among themselves, local police have stationed themselves across the street to arrest anyone who shows up.
During a conference Dec. 8-10 in
When AIDS emerged in the 1980s, Chinese Communist propaganda stigmatized it as a disease of capitalists and foreigners. Tens of thousands of people were infected in rural
Surviving victims and their children, many of them HIV-positive, are still agitating for compensation, and their efforts have often gotten them in legal trouble in a country where public protests are not permitted.
"In
Volunteer groups give out condoms at bars and bathhouses. On World AIDS Day, the Chaoyang administrative district's high school students heard special lectures and recited pledges to combat the disease.
"The Chinese government made some terrible mistakes in the past, but there has been a great, great deal of change," said Xiao Dong, who runs a volunteer group in
REACHING OUT: A volunteer hands out HIV/AIDS information pamphlets in Shenyang as part of a new national effort.