[NEWS] Over One Hundred Sign Petition Calling on China to Reject Real-Name HIV Testing

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In early February 2012 the Chinese Ministry of Health announced that it intends to introduce so-called “real-name” HIV
testing. The measure aims to help health officials to follow up with those who test positive. Instead, the new policy would discourage many people from getting tested at all.

Asia Catalyst supports the China Alliance for People Living with HIV/AIDS (CAP+), the China Gay Health Forum and many other Chinese AIDS activists in calling on the Ministry of Health to reject real-name testing and strengthen privacy protections at hospitals and testing sites. China’s leaders should pass–and enforce–stronger laws to ban discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

See our letter to the Minister of Health, Dr.Chen Zhu here and see our full list of signatories to our online petition after the jump.

 

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[NEWS] India Grants First Compulsory License For Generic Anti-Cancer Drug

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For the first time ever Natco Pharma has won a compulsory license claim to produce sorafenib tosylate – an anti-cancer drug. According to the terms of the ruling Natco will be able to manufacture until 2020, the rest of the patent term but is limited to domestic sale. 
Natco’s generic price proposal will was for 3% of what Bayer is charging at Rs. 8,800 per patient per month. Under the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, CLs are a legally recognized means to overcome barriers in accessing affordable medicines.

You can read the full decision here and find out more on generics in India here.

[NEWS] British Medical Journal Article on Asia Catalyst/Korekata Report

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By Jane Parry

The Chinese government has been urged to set up a compensation fund for the victims of an illegal blood selling scandal that resulted in thousands of people in central China in the 1990s being infected with HIV. A new report calls for a full and independent investigation into the number of people affected and an official apology to the people affected as well as compensation.

Read the full article here.

[NEWS] First Steps: UN Releases Statement on Drug Centers

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A joint statement cosigned by 12 UN bodies, including UNAIDS, last Friday, called for all “States to close compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centers and implement voluntary, evidence-informed and rights-based health and social services in the community.” The statement noted that many of the compulsory centers violate internationally recognized human rights standards often involving physical and sexual violence or forced labor. 

Read the full report here.

[NEWS] Women’s Network for Unity: “Sex Work Is Work”

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Journalist Paula Stromberg’s interview with the Women’s
Network for Unity (WNU), a sex workers’ union with over 6,400 members,
highlights the continuing struggle for Cambodian sex workers to be recognized
as workers, rather than as victims in need of rescue. They are speaking out
against anti-human-trafficking laws that define “all sex workers as victims, ensuring
the police arrest everyone during raids, not just children and sex slaves
locked in brothels. But we are not all victims,” says Ly Pisey, a member of
WNU. “The WNU slogan, Sex Work Is Work, demands that sex workers be taken
seriously as people having an occupation and that a distinction be made between
human trafficking and voluntary, adult sex work.” Read the rest of the article here.