This
month, Chinese legislators are reviewing a ground-breaking proposal
that would provide compensation to tens of thousands of victims of
the HIV/AIDS tainted blood disaster. A new report, released today by
Asia Catalyst, shows this compensation fund is urgently needed, since
victims have been unable to get fair compensation on their own.
The American Foundation for AIDS Research’s TREAT Asia features an interview with Shiba Phurailatpam, director of the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+).
By Hou Ye
This week, China’s State Council published its 12th Five Year Action Plan of China HIV/AIDS Control, Prevention and Treatment. The new plan lays out an assessment of HIV/AIDS in China and government strategy to combat the epidemic.
The plan states that sex has become the main vector of HIV transmission and that the epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) has increased significantly. Spousal transmission has also increased. In the areas lacking
prevention of mother-to-child transmission efforts (PMTCT) are not conducted, the rates of mother-to-child transmission are high.
Reposted from Peter Maybarduk at Public Citizen:
Today, as the 11th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations kicked off in Melbourne, Australia, the Vietnam Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (VNP+) released the “VNP+ Declaration on the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement and Access to Medicines in Vietnam.”
By Gisa Hartmann
The Wall Street Journal reports that China’s government has issued new regulations giving migrant workers new rights. The regulations, originally published in February 2011, were kept secret to give local authorities time to prepare for the expected rush for applications. The State Council circular allows some workers to register for hukou (household registration, 户口) in small and mid-sized cities.
Under the directive, workers must meet certain criteria, including a stable job and stable residence for small cities and an additional one year participation in social security payments for mid-size cities. Large cities such as Beijing
are not included. Since many public services provided in cities, including public health and public schooling, are only accessible with a hukou/registration, this change in regulation will break down barriers to access free medical services for many workers as well as their spouses and children, who are included in the household registration change.
