[COMMENTARY] Marginalization and HIV Risk Among Sex Workers in China | 中国性工作者的边缘化及艾滋病感染风险

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By Mike Frick

A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases examines the burden of HIV among female sex workers in 50 low- and middle-income countries. This is the first systematic review of HIV risk among female sex workers globally. The authors find that female sex workers in China face a 50-times increased odds of HIV infection compared to all Chinese women of reproductive age. This increased risk is slightly lower than the risk faced by female sex workers in India, but much higher than the increased odds of HIV infection among sex workers in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

近日，约翰霍普斯金大学公共卫生学院研究人员在《柳叶刀传染病》杂志 (The Lancet Infectious Diseases)上发表最新研究，研究调查了在世界50个低、中等收入国家，艾滋病毒给女性性工作者中艾滋病感染的情况。这是第一份全球性的针对女性性工作者所面临的艾滋病风险的系统性综述研究。作者指出，在中国，与其他育龄女性相比，女性性工作者感染艾滋病毒的风险按50倍的几率增长。这一数值只稍稍低于印度女性性工作者面临的艾滋病毒感染率，但却远远高于泰国、柬埔寨、印度尼西亚和越南。

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[NEWS] Cross Post From China Geeks on Blood Disaster

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The following is a cross post from the great people at China Geeks. The site offers translation and analysis of modern China.

By Meg Davis

China’s annual “two sessions” wrapped up this week, and Chinese lawmakers finally considered proposals to establish a national compensation fund for thousands of victims of the world’s largest HIV blood disaster.

Back in 2002, Elisabeth Rosenthal wrote in the New York Timesthat in Henan, “poverty begat AIDS, but AIDS has begotten previously unimaginable poverty.” For thousands who received tainted blood transfusions while local authorities covered up the epidemic, the compensation fund would be a life-changer.

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[APPEAL] You Can Help Chinese AIDS Activists Get to Washington D.C.

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“My boss gave me my money and told me to sign my name. After I signed the receipt, he immediately threw the pen into the trashcan. And that was how I was fired.” We heard this from a Chinese man living with HIV/AIDS, a former drug user, who was fired from his job when his boss found out his status. Around China, people like these are mobilizing to get their voices heard. Some hope to come to Washington D.C. this July for the International AIDS Conference. We need
your support to get them there.

The International AIDS Conference will bring 40,000 people to Washington, including government leaders, UN officials, donors, and pharmaceutical companies. Thousands will march in D.C. to demand access to treatment and demand political action to change policy. Our Chinese colleagues will make new contacts, meet donors, and lobby officials as well as learn from others and find support in the international community.

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[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] 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.