BEIJINGNews (Updated
September 5, 2010)
[Home]
[Previous
news]
By ANITA CHANG (AP) 6
days ago
BEIJING
Tian Xi was taken into
custody earlier this month after he lost his temper and smashed office equipment
during a meeting with the administrator of the hospital where he was infected.
Fellow activists have said the 23-year-old was arrested because he angered local
officials with his tireless campaigning for those who contracted HIV, the virus
that causes AIDS, through tainted blood supplies.
"My child started on
this path of petitioning at the age of 17 and this path has led him to today. He
said 'If the government doesn't resolve my case, I will fight to the end, I will
fight until my death.' That's how determined he is," Tian Demin told The
Associated Press.
After ignoring or
demonizing people with AIDS for much of the 1980s and '90s,
Tian Xi, who for more
than a week had been shuttling between government offices trying to meet with
authorities to discuss his case, finally confronted the administrator at the
Xincai County No. 1 People's Hospital in central
The administrator said
there was nothing he could do about Tian's case and got up to leave, Tian Demin
said. Tian Xi lost his temper and smashed a computer, fax machine and other
equipment. Two weeks later he was arrested on charges of intentionally damaging
property.
Phones at the hospital's
general office and president's office rang unanswered Monday.
Tian Xi, who has AIDS and
hepatitis B and C, is being held at the
"I want to bring him
home where we can take care of him. Is he getting enough to eat right now? He
needs nutritious food. He needs treatment," Tian Demin said, wiping tears
from his eyes.
An official surnamed Xu
at the detention center said Tian Xi was being held in a room designed for
inmates with AIDS, who are more common in Henan due to unregulated blood-buying
schemes there in the mid-90s that contaminated blood supplies.
Tian Xi will receive
medical treatment if he falls ill, Xu said.
Lawyer Liang Xiaojun said
he would appeal for Tian Xi's release while awaiting trial. Tian Xi, whose name
means "happiness," plans to plead not guilty to the charges, which
carry a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment.
In recent weeks, Tian Xi
had obtained official documents in which leaders from Gulu and
Copyright © 2010 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Gene Rickman 09/02/2010
A word of warning has
been spread by an expert, who is of the belief that Sydney could play the role
model to the rest of the world in combating HIV but only if sufficient funds are
available on hand, but reality was something else.
Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS
Executive Director said that the world had become numb to the drumbeat of
the reality that there are no less than 7,400 individuals living with the AIDS
virus, struggling each day to live, and the backing offered by the Government
and businesses was dropping at this very moment when chances had been emerging
to restrain the spread of disease.
Ever since the year 2001,
the count of infected people plunged by 17% almost each day for every given
year, however another 2.7 million new cases spring up each year.
Mr. Sidibe gave his
stance that new infection rates in Sydney had sunk to almost one person for each
day, offering a chance to the city to turn into a role model for all, because of
its endeavors at tackling and eliminating the spread of the virus.
While addressing the
Advance Global Health conference in
31 August 2010
A Chinese man has filed a
lawsuit alleging he was denied a job because he has HIV.
State media say this is
the first time that such a discrimination case has been accepted by a Chinese
court.
The man said he had
passed written tests and interviews for the teaching post in
But he was turned down
after medical screening revealed his HIV status, China Daily said.
The newspaper reported
that the case will be heard by a court in Anqing city, in
The plaintiff, a recent
graduate, was not asking for compensation but wanted to be given the job, it
said.
A lawyer for the
plaintiff told the BBC that he would defend his client under existing Chinese
laws.
"The state already
has laws and regulations forbidding discrimination against HIV carriers when
they apply for jobs," Zheng Jineng said.
"But the actual
practise by some government departments and employers are in direct conflict
with the laws.
"The fact that the
People's Court has accepted the case indicates that the rule of law in
Officials say an
estimated 740,000 Chinese people are living with HIV/Aids.
Many face discrimination
in employment, education and healthcare because of the stigma attached to the
virus.
Peter Beaumont
5 September 2010
A
decade ago
Susannah is being treated
in the physiotherapy unit of the Centro das Taipas, a vast, pink former mental
institutution close to Lisbon's airport, where she is having hot towels pressed
on to her lower back. Built during the second world war, the wards of wing 21B
are these days committed to the treatment of drug addiction.
Susannah is a long-term
drug user and is intelligent but troubled. She first smoked cannabis at 13. At
17, she began taking heroin with the father of her children. Now 37, she has
been dependent on drugs mostly heroin for almost two decades.
"I lived in
In the midst of the
recently resurgent debate in Britain about whether our drug laws are working
or require a major overhaul the experience of Portugal has become a crucial
piece of evidence in favour of a radical approach that has confounded the
expectations of even its conservative critics, so much so that in the last month
British officials have asked their Portuguese counterparts for advice, with the
only caveat being that they avoid mentioning the word "decriminalise".
It is, perhaps, an
unnecessary sensitivity. For the reality is that, despite liberalising how it
regards drug possession now largely an administrative problem rather than a
criminal offence
British officials are not
the only ones who have made the pilgrimage to
Nor has it seen its
addict population markedly increase. Rather it has stabilised in a nation that,
along with the
For Susannah as for
the many long-term addicts now on methadone replacement and other programmes,
and for the country's health professionals the country's recent social
history is divided into what the world of addiction and drug use was like before
Law 30 was approved in November 2000, and what it is like now.
Before the law, which
decriminalised (or depenalised) possession of drugs but still prohibited their
use, the story of drug addiction in
Other measures have been
equally encouraging. Deaths of street users from accidental overdoses also
appear to have declined, as anecdotal evidence strongly suggests has
petty crime associated with addicts who were stealing to maintain their habits.
Recent surveys in schools also suggest an overall decrease in drug
experimentation.
At the same time, the
number of those in treatment for their addiction problems has risen by about a
third from 23,500 in 1998 to 35,000 today helped by a substantial increase
in available beds, facilities and medical support with many going on to
methadone replacement programmes. The consequence is that perhaps as much as
400m (£334m) has been taken out of the illegal drugs market.
But decriminalisation, as
Portuguese officials and others who have observed the country's experience are
at pains to point out, was only the most obvious part of what happened 10 years
ago in the midst of a similar debate on drugs to the one now going on in the UK.
Then, in a moment of
grand vision powered by an inquiry which recommended a wholesale overhaul of
Portugal's anti-drugs policy in 1998, the government opted to make wholesale
changes to the way Portugal dealt with the issue, giving a huge boost in
resources to everything from prevention to harm reduction, treatment and
reintegration creating an entirely joined-up approach to drug abuse under
the auspices of a single unit in the ministry of health.
It marked an acceptance
that for many, living drug-free was neither realistic nor possible and that what
society needed to do was mitigate the risk individuals posed to themselves and a
wider population at large by helping them manage their problems.
Susannah's doctor, the
head of treatment at the Centro das Taipas, is Dr Miguel Vasconcelos. He frames
Portuguese drug laws in a way that I hear repeated several times. Within certain
clearly defined limits an amount equivalent to 10 days' normal use of any
particular drug, ranging from amphetamines and cannabis to heroin
possession, he explains, is now considered similar to a traffic offence. It is a
notion I find later described in the Portuguese drug strategy document as a
"humanistic" approach.
Vasconcelos, 51, is old
enough to remember what it was like before, in a country which, two decades ago,
barely had a methadone replacement programme at all. In his office, decorated
with artworks by his clients, Vasconcelos says: "Critics from the
conservative parties were concerned that the new law would make
"You have to
remember," he says, "that the substances are still illegal; it is the
consequences that are different." And for those arrested in possession of
drugs for personal use, that means not a court appearance but an invitation to
attend a "dissuasion board" that can request but not insist upon
attendance at facilities such as the Centro das Taipas for assessment and
treatment. "They evaluate if someone is ill or a recreational user, if a
person uses sporadically," says Vasconselos. "Even then people have a
choice. People can refuse to attend the dissuasion board."
For many, he believes,
the experience can be cathartic and he admits being surprised by how open many
of the clients who have come to his facility via that system have been .
If there has been a
problem with the Portuguese experiment, he believes that it has been one largely
of perception outside Portugal where decriminalisation has been
misunderstood by some as legalisation or a step on the road to it.
Rather, Vasconcelos
believes that decriminalisation is a natural consequence of a gradual shift from
regarding addicts as social delinquents to regarding them as people in need of
help, a view reiterated by Dr Manuel Cardoso, a board member at the Instituto da
Droga e da Toxicodependκncia at Portugal's health ministry, which now
co-ordinates the country's approach to drug abuse.
At the centre of
Portugal's deeply pragmatic approach are the dissuasion boards. Lisbon's board
which deals with 2,000 cases a year sits in a modest office on the
second floor of a block above a pretty park. There are no lawyers (although they
can attend) and no clerks in robes. No uniforms at all.
Last Friday, on one side
of the table were Nadia Simoes and Nuno Portugal Capaz, both members of the
commission. On the other was a 19-year-old barman in a white T-shirt who allowed
the Observer to observe the confidential process but asked not to be named.
Stopped by police with
5.2 grams of cannabis, he is marginally over the limit of what can be dealt with
by the dissuasion board alone and has had to appear in court as well. It is the
young man's first offence. He looks nervous. But it quickly becomes clear that
this is a non-confrontational process, as Simoes explains that while possession
of drugs for personal use is not a criminal offence, it is still forbidden.
The man nods his
understanding. Simoes explains the risks of smoking cannabis, including
schizophrenia, and the sanctions the board can impose for second offences,
including a fine or community service. Licences crucial to employment can also
be revoked. As the process concludes, the barman looks relieved and promises to
stop smoking. As he leaves, Capaz stands up and shakes his hand. The whole thing
has lasted less than 10 minutes.
A sociologist by
training, Capaz is a vice-president on the board. He believes that far from
Portugal becoming more lenient, the reality is that the state intervenes far
more than it did before Law 30 and the other associated legislation was
introduced. Before, he explains, police would often not pursue drug users they
had arrested, interested only in the dealers. "People outside Portugal
believe we had a tougher approach under the old law, but in reality it is far
tougher now."
Now everyone who is
caught with drugs must go before one of the 20 boards in the country to be
categorised as either a recreational user, someone with a developing problem, or
an addict. And while some 30% choose to refuse to appear at the first summons,
most when threatened with a fine for disobedience eventually attend.
Capaz has been involved
since the very beginning and is struck by two things. The first is how
Portuguese society has come to accept that addicts and drug users should be
treated as a social rather than a criminal problem. The second, he explains, is
that under the old criminal system all of those caught were supposed to be equal
before the law. "With this system," he explains, "We do it the
other way. We can apply the law in a way that fits the individual."
Indeed, the law
recognises that for addicts certain sanctions are not appropriate. While
recreational users can be fined, the law prevents addicts from having a
financial penalty imposed for fear that in trying to raise the fine they might
be driven to commit a crime.
But not everyone is
totally convinced. Not even among the people who have dedicated their lives to
assisting addicts. Francisco Chaves runs a modern shelter for street addicts
close to Casal Vendoso, a place once notorious for its drug problems. "I
want to explain first that this is not my profession but a vocation," he
explains by way of introduction. He wants, however, to pose a "rhetorical
question" which turns out to be more passionate intervention than a
debating point.
He is concerned that
under the "humanistic approach" enshrined in Portugal's decade-old
laws in its concern for the human rights of the addict perhaps too much
pressure to change may have been taken off addicts. "I worry that it has
become too easy being an addict now," he says. "They can say: 'I've
got clean clothes. I've got food. Support. So why should I change?'"
He says this sadly,
because he agrees that addicts should be treated properly but cannot avoid
"the paradox of the situation". "I say it is a rhetorical
question because places like this are required. It is a personal, philosophical
question." But it is one without any obvious answer.
Outside his office in the
large, bright space where addicts are lolling on the sofa, eating or watching
television, I encounter Fernando Almeida, 31, who has been a heroin addict since
he was 19. A thief who stole to support his habit he was recently
released from prison and found a place at this centre.
When he arrived six
months ago, he weighed 55 kilos. These days he weighs 73kg and appears both
lucid and motivated. "In the old days I used to get hassled by the police.
Now the police don't interfere with me," he says. "I used to steal.
Now I'm not going to steal anymore. For me the solution is to stop. I've
discovered food and small things like taking a walk and having a coffee. I'm
learning how to work."
(AFP) Aug 24, 2010
ENTEBBE
"Homosexuality is
incompatible with the word of God," said conference host and Ugandan
Archbishop Uganda Henry Luke Orombi.
"It is good
Archbishop Rowan is here. We are going to express to him where we stand,"
he added.
Head of the Anglican
church worldwide, Williams is struggling to keep the communion together amid
disagreements over the ordination of female bishops in
"There is already a
break. It doesn't need to be announced," said Orombi.
Williams delivered a
sermon Tuesday at the opening of the six-day meeting, the first of its kind
since 2004.
While he did not mention
homosexuality, he said it was the duty of all bishops to be open-minded on
contentious issues.
"We must learn to
listen to those we lead and serve to find out what their hopes and needs and
confusions are. We must love them and attend to their humanity in all its
diversity," Williams said.
However the head of the
Council of Anglican Provinces in
"Today, the West is
lacking obedience to the word of God," Reverend Ian Ernest of
"It is for us
(Africans) to redress the situation," he said, adding that he has severed
all ties to the Episcopalian churches in Canada and the United States that have
allowed gays to enter the clergy.
Homosexuality is illegal
in many African countries and is punishable by a prison sentence.
In
(AFP) Aug 20, 2010
MUMBAI
Authorities in the
financial hub have drafted in experts from Medecins Sans Frontieres to tackle an
outbreak which has seen nearly 4,000 cases this month alone, with the most
virulent form of the potential killer having struck 10 to 15 percent.
"It's an exceptional
year. We're definitely seeing a rise in cases. It's a record number,"
assistant health officer Dr Daksha Shah told AFP.
The first six months of
this year saw more than 14,700 cases in Mumbai -- nearly as many as for the
whole of 2009 -- while a sharp rise in patients since the start of the monsoon
rain in July has left hospitals struggling to cope.
Malaria, which causes
fever, headaches and vomiting, is caused by a parasite transmitted via mosquito
bites.
If untreated, it can
quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs,
according to the World Health Organization.
Since August 1, just over
3,800 people have tested positive -- mostly for the non-lethal vivax strain --
and there have been 28 deaths, according to figures released Friday by the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
MSF teams working on an
HIV treatment scheme in Mumbai are providing 100,000 diagnostic kits and 3,700
treatment kits to 64 health centres. They will also train health workers to
identify and treat the disease.
Tiago Dal Molin, the
group's project co-ordinator in Mumbai, said in a statement: "It is crucial
that health staff can give a correct diagnosis so that patients can be treated
appropriately.
"The diagnostic
tests that we provide are reliable, easy to use and require just one drop of
blood to give results."
Outbreaks of malaria and
water-borne diseases are common in some areas of overcrowded Mumbai, which is
home to an estimated 18 million people, more than half of them in slums.
A.C Dhariwal, director of
the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme, was quoted as saying by
the Indian Express last month that Mumbai had the highest number of malaria
cases and deaths out of
Public health officials
have expressed concern that Mumbai's many construction sites have become a haven
for mosquitoes that spread the disease because they breed around stagnant water.
They suggested that
200,000 construction workers, many of them migrants who sleep on site, are at
risk of infection.