China Red Ribbon Beijing Forum on HIV and Human Rights holds Meeting to Discuss Discrimination in Healthcare Settings

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To download a copy of the speech given by UNAIDS China Country Coordinator Mark Stirling at the Red Ribbon Forum meeting, please click here.

Forum brings together stakeholders from government, grassroots organisations and other key sectors to discuss discrimination against people living with HIV in healthcare settings

15th December 2010, Beijing. The China Red Ribbon Forum on HIV and Rights met today in Beijing’s Xinbeiwei Hotel to discuss how to address discrimination faced by people living with HIV when seeking medical treatment. This was the second meeting of the Forum, which was inaugurated in July 2010 with the objective of creating a platform to explore issues related to HIV and rights. The Forum brings together key figures from government, civil society, academia and the law to explore these key issues and develop concrete recommendations in meetings held twice annually.

Dr. Hao Yang speaks at the second meeting of the Red Ribbon Forum

Over 100 people from a range of sectors participated in today’s meeting. Participants included senior government officials, prominent civil society figures and activists, and renowned experts from academia and the legal sector. Dr. Hao Yang, Deputy Director of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Ministry of Health, reiterated the government’s commitment to halting the spread of HIV and combating stigma and discrimination. “The Chinese government has recently announced a new 8 point strategy for responding to HIV. This strategy emphasises strengthening care and support measures for PLHIV, and fully implementing welfare policies to support children impacted by AIDS, as well as working to fight discrimination, and protect the legal rights of people living with HIV and their relatives in healthcare, employment, education, and other areas. Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out that combating discrimination against PLHIV and their relatives in the areas of medical care, employment, education and other areas should be a priority for our work.

Dr. Wang Longde, Chair of the Red Ribbon Forum Interim Steering Committee commended participants for their active input and constructive suggestions. “Based on discussions at the first meeting of the Red Ribbon Forum in July, the Interim Steering Committee of the Red Ribbon Forum set the meeting topic as “Ensuring availability of medical services to PLHIV”, which will be explored from a human rights perspective. During the meeting, participants engaged in in-depth discussion on issues including women, children and vulnerable populations, treatment and care for people living with HIV, the rights of PLHIV to obtain prevention and care services, and other key issues. Specific recommendations were formulated for submission to government departments. This was an important step forward in creating a social environment with no discrimination, conducive to HIV prevention.

Discrimination in healthcare settings is one of the most important challenges faced by people living with HIV. Often, medical care is only available to those living with HIV in designated infectious disease hospitals, which are in many cases only able to provide a very limited range of medical services. While in theory, all hospitals have a legal obligation to treat people living with HIV, reports suggest that in many cases, PLHIV are often refused treatment outside of infectious disease hospitals, and are therefore unable to access treatment and surgery for a wide range of, often easily treatable, conditions.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Meng Lin, a person living with HIV and prominent civil society figure, described the harm done by discrimination in healthcare settings. “People living with HIV do not just face the pressures brought by their condition, they also face the fear of stigma and discrimination, and rights violations. It is essential that we take concrete steps to ensure that the equal rights of people living with HIV to work, study and seek medical treatment are fully protected by the law. If we fail to do this, the result will be more infections and an expanded epidemic which will be far harder to bring under control”.

Discussions at the meeting were constructive, with participants offering input from a wide range of perspectives. During the morning session, keynote speakers gave presentations on relevant topics including China’s epidemic and government policies, the legal aspects of discrimination in healthcare settings and how rights can be protected in practice. A report on discrimination in healthcare settings prepared by civil society organisations was presented to the meeting. During the afternoon, focused group discussions were held on topics including healthcare, prevention, care, rights protection, care for women and children living with HIV, and other relevant topics.

Mr. Mark Stirling, UNAIDS China Country Coordinator addresses the Forum

Speaking at the close of the meeting, Mark Stirling, UNAIDS China Country Coordinator noted that the meeting had been highly constructive and had seen valuable inputs from all sectors of society. Mr. Stirling summarized specific recommendations raised at the meeting. These included:

· The need to expand HIV treatment, prevention, and counselling services;

· The need for intensive training of health service managers and providers on non-discriminatory HIV service delivery;

· The need for full implementation of Universal Precautions and the contribution of PLHIV in providing HIV counselling and health services;

· The need to establish or strengthen complaints management procedures and legal advisory and recourse systems and services to ensure that cases of discrimination are promptly reported and acted upon;

· The need to ensure that the Ministry of Health practices non-discrimination in its own employment practices.

For more information on the China Red Ribbon Beijing Forum and human-rights based approaches to HIV and AIDS, please contact lthsd@sina.cn or visit the website of the Red Ribbon Beijing Forum at http://www.bjrrforum.org/ or the UNAIDS China Office Website at http://www.unaids.org.cn

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