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November 29, 2009)
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27 Nov 2009
BEIJING,
Nov 27 (Reuters) - People in China living with HIV and AIDS face widespread
discrimination and stigma, with even medical workers sometimes refusing to touch
them, according to a U.N. survey released on Friday.
But more than 40 percent
of people surveyed in a new UNAIDS report said they had been discriminated
against because of their HIV status. More than one-tenth said they had been
refused medical care at least once.
Chinese AIDS activist Yu
Xuan, talking at a news conference to unveil the report, recounted the story of
a friend who was refused an urgent operation because of her HIV status, and who
ended up dying as a result.
"I don't want people
to have the kind of experiences I have had," said Yu, who also has AIDS.
Deputy Chinese Health
Minister Huang Jeifu said the government would work harder to address issues
related to AIDS stigma and ignorance, but admitted it would be difficult.
"The biggest obstacle
is that there is not enough eduction or publicity about AIDS. Society does not
know enough about the disease, and people think you can get it just from touch,
talking, shaking hands or eating together," Huang said. "This is a
huge problem."
The government will launch
a video campaign to break the stigma of AIDS featuring Chinese and NBA
basketball star Yao Ming which will be shown on 20 large outdoor screens in 12
cities, but will likely have their work cut out.
The survey found that some
children with infected parents but who were not necessarily infected themselves
had been forced to leave school.
"Many of the
respondents knew who they could go to for support in addressing discrimination
and taking action against those that violate their rights," the report
said.
"Unfortunately, the
success rate when addressing problems encountered is very low." (Reporting
by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Dean Yates)
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,
Associated Press Writer Elaine Kurtenbach, Associated Press Writer Wed Nov 25,
2009
SHANGHAI – The virus
that causes AIDS is now spreading fastest in
Data show that 40 percent
of new HIV infections diagnosed in
The rate of infections
through heterosexual sex in
"We are
transitioning. We are seeing a shift in the nature of the epidemic," said
Michel Sidibe, executive director for UNAIDS. Similar trends in Asia and
"We need to ensure
resource allocation is responding to that change," Sidibe said.
The government remains
sensitive about the disease, regularly cracking down on activists and patients
who seek more support and rights.
In
Most of the patients were
infected with HIV/AIDS through blood transfusions at hospitals in
"We've petitioned the
local government, but they've ignored us, so we have nowhere left to go,"
said Gao, who has already traveled to
"Our local hospital
in
Gao, whose husband
unknowingly contracted HIV after selling his blood in 1993, traveled eight hours
by train to
Officials from the
ministry and police officers detained the group of more than 30 protesters,
including four children with HIV/AIDS, according to Gao.
As a single mother, Gao
said her unemployment benefits add up to only $90 a month. That is not enough to
cover schooling costs for her 12-year-old son and rent, since her house was sold
to pay hospital costs for her husband's treatment.
AIDS was the top killer
among infectious diseases in
"In
The HIV virus that causes
AIDS gained a foothold in
HIV's spread has been
accelerated by
Such factors contributed
to a doubling in women's share of HIV cases in
___
Associated Press writer
Chi-Chi Zhang contributed to this report from
Friday, November 27, 2009
The
campaign, launched with
People who are HIV
positive in
According to a report by
UNAIDS, a quarter of medical staff and over a third of government officials and
teachers developed negative and discriminatory attitudes towards people living
with HIV after learning their status.
More than 12 percent of
people with HIV had also been refused medical care at least once since they
tested positive, UNAIDS said in their China Stigma Index report emailed to AFP.
"These results really
underscore the importance of ensuring health care professionals receive
appropriate training to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase their
ability to provide appropriate services to people living with HIV," UNAIDS
executive director Michel Sidibe said in the statement.
The report was based on a
survey of more than 2,000 people living with HIV in
It also found that more
than 34 percent of those of working age had stopped working as a result of being
HIV positive and over 55 percent had chosen not to attend social gatherings or
had isolated themselves from family and friends.
"Building
understanding and care from society as a whole for people living with HIV,
together with eliminating discrimination, are key elements of the AIDS
response,"
The campaign will also see
more than 30,000 posters distributed across
China's health ministry
estimates that at the end of 2009, 740,000 people were living with HIV in the
country, and according to the latest data, 48,000 were infected this year,
according to UNAIDS.
Almost
60 million people have been infected by HIV and 25 million people killed by
causes related to the virus since the epidemic started, according to new data
published by UNAIDS on Tuesday.
While prevention
programmes have helped to cut infection rates by 17 percent over the past eight
years, the total number of people living with HIV continued to rise in 2008.
By the end of 2008, a
total of 33.4 million people or 20 percent more people were living with the
epidemic compared to in 2000. The UN figures
"The continuing rise
in the population of people living with HIV reflects the combined effects of
continued high rates of new HIV infections and the beneficial impact of
antiretroviral therapy," said UNAIDS in its annual report.
Sub-Saharan
In South and
The comparative figure for
Eastern Europe and
UNAIDS observed that in
these regions, the epidemic was "experiencing significant
transitions."
While
In Eastern Europe and
Sun Nov 29, 2009
Benedict
issued the appeal during his weekly Sunday blessing ahead of World AIDS Day on
Tuesday.
He said the Catholic
Church has been on the front lines caring for AIDS sufferers with its hospitals
and care givers. He said he hoped that with coordinated efforts, the HIV virus
can be successfully cured.
Benedict drew
unprecedented criticism from European governments, international organizations
and scientists in March when he said that distributing condoms was not the
answer to
He said a moral attitude
toward sex — abstinence and marital fidelity — would help fight the disease.
By BEN STOCKING,
Associated Press Writer Ben Stocking, Associated Press Writer Sun Nov 29,
2009
TINH
BIEN,
"They told him,
'There's nothing we can do for you. Just go home and wait to die,'" said Do
Thi Phuong. So when she too got AIDS, she didn't seek help, fearing that she
would also be shunned. Instead, like her husband, she went home to die.
Then she heard about a
little AIDS clinic in the Mekong Delta, in a place where the Americans used to
train South Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Now, on a regimen of AIDS
drugs provided by the
The clinic at Tinh Bien is
one of 55 across
As memories of the
eight-year war fade, the America that older Vietnamese remember, of bombers,
guns and Agent Orange, is now represented to many by places such as Tinh Bien,
where 340 HIV patients are getting treatment.
The
The funding pays for
treatment, support for patients' families, prevention programs and dispelling
the AIDS stigma, which is entrenched in
Just how entrenched was
demonstrated recently when a group of HIV-positive schoolchildren living at a
PEPFAR-supported compound near
"The other kids
refused to play with me," said Huyen, 13, who wouldn't give her last name.
"They pointed at me and said, 'She has AIDS.'"
Phuong feared the stigma
too. She said that for a long time she didn't dare tell anyone she had HIV.
"In the countryside,
the only thing people know about AIDS is that it's the 'Disease of the Century.'
They're afraid they'll get infected, so they shun you," she said.
Then she saw a report on
TV that life-extending AIDs drugs were available in
Finally, outreach workers
learned from a friend of hers that she was ill and invited her to the Tinh Bien
clinic.
"The doctors and
staff here treat me like I'm just another patient," said Phuong, 30.
At the
Until the
PEPFAR has been criticized
for its paperwork, which is regarded as onerous, and for the U.S. ban on
spending the money to dispense clean needles and syringes, on the grounds that
they might foster drug abuse. Infected needles are the main transmitter of HIV
nationally in
Under the Obama
administration, PEPFAR is reconsidering this approach, according to Steve Mills,
who directs the
Some question why
But for Mills, working in
"I'm continually
amazed that the places we are working in used to be battlegrounds," he
said.
Mills has lived in
"As an American who
remembers the war, I'm awed that Vietnamese are so welcoming of us, and I'm
happy we're back now supporting the development of their health system," he
said.
Tinh Bien is in An Giang,
a poor province where some women supplement their income as prostitutes in the
casinos and brothels just across the frontier in
"These drugs are
making a very big difference," said Mai Hoang Anh, the top AIDS official in
An Giang province.
"They allow people to
stay active for many years, just like Magic Johnson," the American
basketball ace who announced 18 years ago that he had AIDS and is still looking
healthy at age 50.
On a recent day, Chau Thi
Anh Loan, 23, sat on a bench outside the clinic, holding a one-month-old baby
bundled in a green blanket. She caught the virus from her husband, a heroin user
who shared needles with friends and is now dead.
Staffers at Tinh Bien make
sure she takes her medicine on schedule and feeds her baby with formula milk.
"This will prevent me
from passing HIV to my son," said Loan, who received medicine that helps
prevent mother-to-child transmission. "The doctors tell me he's
healthy."
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical
Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer Tue Nov 24, 10:14 am ET
GENEVA
Officials say the global
epidemic probably peaked in 1996 and that the disease looks stable in most
regions, except for
Daniel Halperin, an AIDS
expert at
In the report by the World
Health Organization and UNAIDS, the experts estimate there are now about 33.4
million people worldwide with HIV. In 2007, the figure was about 33.2 million.
The numbers are based on a mathematical model and come with a margin of error of
several million people.
With the U.N.'s
confirmation HIV is now declining in most countries, some experts said the
report should change the spending habits of international donors. Globally, HIV
causes about 4 percent of all deaths, but gets about 23 cents of every public
health dollar.
"We shouldn't let
this single disease continue to distort overall global funding, especially when
bigger killers like pneumonia and diarrhea in developing countries are far
easier and cheaper to treat," said Philip Stevens, of International Policy
Network, a London-based think tank.
In the report, U.N.
officials wrote that "AIDS continues to be a major public health
priority" and called for more funds to support their effort. Officials said
the drugs have saved nearly 3 million lives.
People with HIV who start
the drugs must continue indefinitely, so the cost of treating HIV will continue
to rise, even as the epidemic fades. Prices could skyrocket if resistance
develops and more expensive regimens are needed.
Whether previous U.N.
initiatives are responsible for the epidemic's downturn is uncertain. Some
experts said the drop in HIV may simply be a result of the virus burning itself
out, rather than the result of any health interventions.
Ties Boerma, a WHO
statistics expert, said countries whose HIV prevalence declined dramatically,
like
The report also noted that
where treatment is available, rates of HIV are either stable or rising.
Elizabeth Pisani, an
epidemiologist who once worked for UNAIDS, said when people with HIV don't take
their drugs exactly as prescribed, they have periods where they become
infectious, giving the virus a chance to spread. Most people without treatment
die before infecting many others.
"In theory, treatment
may have an important preventative effect, but in practice, it can actually make
things worse," Pisani said. "We obviously can't stop treatment, but we
need to do a lot more on prevention."
Stevens said the fact that
AIDS peaked more than a decade ago suggests it is now time for the global
community to prioritize other health problems.
Outside of the
worst-affected countries such as
"Against this
backdrop, it is unjust that AIDS should commandeer such a disproportionate level
of funding," Stevens said.