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亚洲促进会今天发布的一份报告称，在中国，执法行为阻碍了性工作者获得和携带安全套的能力，对艾滋病预防工作的开展产生了负面的影响。卫生部门与公安之间缺乏协调和沟通，以及背道而驰的法律和政策框架，导致国家卫生和计划生育委员会发放安全套的努力进一步被削弱。

亚洲促进会的报告《安全套之困：执法行为对中国男性、女性、和跨性别性工作者艾滋病预防工作影响的调查》，记录了有关法律和执法行为是如何影响性工作者的安全套行为，以及对获得艾滋病和生殖健康服务的影响。这研究在中国三个主要城市开展、对517名女性、男性和跨性别性工作者进行调查，为我们了解针对性工作者的执法行为及其影响提供了前所未有的定量和定性数据和信息。

这项研究发现，和警察的打交道是中国女性、男性和跨性别性工作者生活钟不可避免的一部分。作为能够保护性工作者免于性病和艾滋病威胁的健康工具，安全套在执法行动中被认为是“作案工具”。执法人员搜查和没收安全套，并通过安全套施加压力而获得当事人的供认。此外，执法人员是否搜到安全套，是决定性工作者会不会被带去派出所进行调查和处罚的重要因素。 (more…)

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Letter from the Executive Director

These first three months as Executive Director of Asia Catalyst have been extremely exciting for me. I thank all of you, and our wonderful staff and Board, for the outpouring of support and inspiration during this initial, challenging period! It is especially meaningful to join the team as Asia Catalyst celebrates ten years of supporting community-based advocacy on the right to health.

Our program staff continue to work tirelessly, crisscrossing the region to train and coach grassroots project partners to strengthen their organizations, bolster advocacy efforts, and provide opportunities to build stronger advocacy coalitions and strengthen human rights knowledge and skills.

Program Highlights:

In China, we’ve provided intensive on-site training with several of our partners. We conducted advocacy coaching to the Youth LGBT Network and management coaching to the Xishuangbanna Red Ribbon Center. We also held a strategic planning workshop for 15 members of community-based organizations (CBOs) representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, people living with HIV (PLHIV), hemophiliacs and people with disabilities.

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Since November 2015, Duan Hongbo has been collaborating with other associations working with people with disabilities in Gansu Province and Beijing, China to spark concrete changes to benefit all people living with disabilities.

Duan Hongbo was on his way home from Bangkok when he stopped for a connecting flight in Chengdu, China. His first leg, three hours on China Eastern Airlines, had been pleasant enough. After three days at Asia Catalyst’s CBO Catalyst workshop, he was ready to return to the northwestern city of Baiyin, China. His journey was cut short, however, when China Eastern Airlines refused to admit Duan, who has a visual impairment, for being “unaccompanied.”

This is discriminatory and violates Duan Hongbo’s protected rights. Armed with skills and knowledge learned in the CBO Catalyst program, Duan immediately began conducting advocacy for his rights.

Marooned in a new city, Asia Catalyst helped Duan contact a 2013 CBO Catalyst graduate who lived in Chengdu. Together, the activists alerted local media using Cheng’s existing contacts and began to raise public awareness on the incident. (more…)

Asia: Widespread discrimination in healthcare settings undermining effective HIV response

(Bangkok, Thailand. 29 February, 2016)

Ahead of the March 1st Global Zero Discrimination Day, people living with HIV in Asia continue to face discrimination in health care settings, impeding their access to health services and denying them the right to health, said Asia Catalyst, an independent organization working to promote the right to health for marginalized communities in Asia, in a new report released today.

Based on testimony gathered by eight community-based organizations (CBOs) across the Asia region, the 83 page report, FIRST DO NO HARM: Discrimination in Health Care Settings against People Living with HIV in Cambodia, China, Myanmar, and Viet Nam, details the experiences of 202 women, men and transgender persons living with HIV in Cambodia, China, Myanmar and Viet Nam when accessing health care services. The findings highlight denial of services, segregated waiting areas, refusal to provide surgery, and discriminatory additional fees due to a person’s HIV status.

In Myanmar, Cambodia and Viet Nam, women living with HIV reported denial of sexual and reproductive healthcare services because of their HIV status. This included pressure not to have children and denial of medically accurate information on how to minimize the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child. Women from Cambodia and Myanmar reported they underwent sterilization procedures on the advice of doctors because of their HIV status. All transgender women interviewed in China were denied breast augmentation surgery because of their HIV-status.

“Understanding the human toll is key to addressing the root causes of discrimination and ensuring a holistic response to the HIV epidemic,” said Jebli Shrestha, Regional Program Manager at Asia Catalyst . “This need is magnified when stigma dissuades or even prevents people from seeking care in the first place.”

The report also detailed the legislative environment in all four countries, all of which have policies in place to protect citizens from discrimination, but which are not being uniformly enforced. The organization noted that communities at high risk of HIV, such as sex workers, gay and bisexual men, and transgender women, were doubly discriminated against. (more…)