By Asia Catalyst

On February 8, China’s Ministry of Health and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) both expressed support for new proposed regulations in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region that would implement real-name testing for HIV, suggesting these could become national policy. Wang Yu, Director of the Chinese CDC, said that real-name HIV testing would allow health workers to follow-up with people who test positive, helping them to access treatment and prevent transmitting HIV to sexual partners.

We are concerned that without stronger confidentiality protections and stronger laws on discrimination, a move to real-name HIV testing will drive more people underground and away from government testing and treatment programs. Please sign this petition to the Ministry of Health.

In a telling window into this situation, an online poll reported by the Global Times shows that although over half of respondents support a real-name HIV testing policy, fifty-seven percent would not be willing to take a real-name HIV test.

With every phase of the AIDS epidemic, we hope that China will learn from the mistakes made by other countries. Most
countries begin with denialism, and then must confront the havoc wrought on their public health programs by stigma and discrimination. Thus, many countries have learned the hard way that voluntary testing, confidentiality, and strong legal protections against discrimination must be part of any successful policy response to the epidemic.

These lessons have been codified in international laws and standards that China must uphold.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which China has signed and ratified, upholds the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and General Comment 14 on the right to health says that this includes the right “to have personal health data treated with confidentiality.” The right to privacy and to non-discrimination are also upheld in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed but not yet ratified. The importance of preserving confidentiality of HIV status, and of enacting laws against HIV-related discrimination, are also spelled out in the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.

But research by Chinese and international NGOs has found that Chinese hospital staff often violate confidentiality. In extreme cases, some have published lists of names of people who test positive for HIV, and have even called employers, family members and others to tell them about a person’s positive HIV test results.

Once a person’s HIV status is known, the profound stigma surrounding HIV has led to widespread discrimination by employers, schools, landlords and even hospitals in China. However, legal protections against discrimination are weak, and courts have tended to find against the few victims of HIV-related discrimination who have dared to bring cases to court.

It’s not surprising, then, that many people who take HIV tests disappear without ever receiving treatment. The reason for this is not that people don’t want free treatment – it’s that they fear the nightmarish discrimination and total social rejection that will result once their status is publicly known.

Chinese civil society groups working on HIV/AIDS have begun to speak out. The China Gay Health Forum released a statement expressing concern about the lack of legal protections and the unwillingness of courts to address cases of discrimination. They question the legality of real-name testing in the wake of a recent statement by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on World AIDS Day to review and revise legal regulations related to AIDS discrimination. In a strongly worded blog post for Radio Free Asia, AIDS activist Wan Yanhai also cited widespread discrimination in China’s healthcare system and weak protections for personal information.

Please join us in signing a petition here calling on the Ministry of Health to drop the real-name HIV testing policy and strengthen protections of confidentiality.  China’s leaders should pass–and enforce–stronger laws to ban discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

We will send the petition on February 24th – please sign and forward widely.

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IN CHINESE:

2月8日，对广西壮族自治区关于HIV检测实名制的新提案，中国卫生部和疾控中心共同表示了支持，意味着这将成为全国性的规则。CDC负责人王宇表示，HIV检测实名制可以使卫生工作者能够追踪检测结果为阳性的个人，帮助他们获得治疗，避免其将艾滋病传染给性伴侣。
我们担心，在缺乏有力的保密性保护和反歧视法律的情况下，HIV检测实名制将会导致更多人隐藏起来并回避政府的检测治疗项目。因此，我们起草了这封给卫生部的公开信，请加入我们。
举例来说，一个《环球时报》报道的在线投票显示，尽管有超半数的人支持实名制HIV检测， 但同时有57%的人表示不会接受实名HIV检测。

我
们希望中国能够从其他国家在艾滋病流行的每个阶段犯的错误中学到经验。很多国家在一开始都是采取一概否认的鸵鸟政策，但很快，他们就不得不面对污名与歧视
对他们公共健康项目的摧毁。同样，很多国家吃了苦头才认识到，自愿检测、信息保密、强有力的反歧视法律保护，这些是任何政策希望成功应对艾滋病传播的必要
条件。

中国应当维护这些已经编入国际法律和标准的理念。

中国签署和批准了的《经济社会文化权利国际公约》，维护人们享有能达到的最高健康标准的权利，关于健康权的第14号
一般性意见指出，这里包括了”个人健康资料保密”的权利。同时，隐私权和免于歧视的权利也受到《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》支持，中国已经签署该公约但
尚未批准。关于保护艾滋病感染情况的保密性和执行法律打击艾滋病相关歧视，这都写在《艾滋病和人权问题国际准则》之中。

中国和国际民间组织的研究发现，中国医院工作人员经常侵犯病人信息保密性。在最极端的例子中，个别医院还会公布HIV检测结果阳性病人的名单，并给病人的雇主和家人等打电话，告知其该病人的HIV阳性检测结果。

在中国，一旦个人的艾滋病感染情况被公开，艾滋病相关的根深蒂固的污名就会引发来自雇主、学校、房东甚至医院的各种歧视。然而，法律对歧视的打击是无力的，法院似乎对胆敢将艾滋病相关歧视诉诸公堂的受害者并不友好。

怪不得很多人得到HIV检测结果之后，没有治疗就消失了。他们当然不是不想要免费治疗，他们怕的是一旦病情被公开，就要面对梦魇般的歧视与彻底的社会拒绝。

中国致力于HIV/AIDS领
域工作的民间组织开始站出来发言。中国男同健康论坛发表了一份声明，表达了对法律保护的缺失和法院不情愿处理歧视案件的担忧。他们质疑实名制检测的合法
性，正在不久前，温家宝总理在世界艾滋病日的发言中还提到要重审和修订涉及艾滋病歧视的法律法规。在自由亚洲电台的一篇措辞强硬的博客文章中，艾滋病活动
家万延海也提到了中国医疗系统中存在的广泛歧视和对个人信息的保护不力。

请加入我们，签署请愿书，呼吁卫生部放弃实名制HIV检测政策并加强信息保密性保护。中国领导人应当通过并执行更有力的法律来禁止针对艾滋病毒感染者的歧视。

我们会在2月24日发出请愿书，请签名支持并广泛传播。

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