Antiviral therapy for HIV/AIDS offered free

Source: China Daily

China is bringing free antiviral therapy to all citizens living with HIV/AIDS, the top health authority said.

Antiviral treatment should be recommended for all those with HIV/AIDS under China's newly revised guidelines, said an online notice issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission on Wednesday.

But it has to be on a voluntary basis to make sure they are fully prepared for a treatment that is usually lifelong, it said.

"Treatment facilities must not force people to receive the therapy," it said. More

18/6/2016

China's LGBT community still fighting for their rights

Source: CNN

China has come a long way since homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness 15 years ago.

In 2014, courts finally ruled against therapy to "correct" homosexuality (though the practice still persists in some areas), and many companies openly pursue the pink dollar, catering to wealthy LGBT audiences with a wave of rainbow logos, especially after the U.S. legalized same-sex marriage in 2015.

At the same time however, in Beijing, activists are unable to organize a proper pride festival due to official pressure, while in March 2015, five feminists activists with ties to the LGBT community were detained for 37 days for planning protests as part of an anti-sexual harassment campaign. More

12/6/2016

Food Inspector’s HIV Discrimination Case Heard in Guangzhou

Source: Sixth Tone

The labor arbitration case of an HIV-positive man suing his employer over alleged discrimination took place Sunday in Guangzhou, capital of China’s southern Guangdong province.

The 27-year-old complainant, known only by the nickname Ming, is employed by a Guangzhou-based food inspection organization, which is partly state-owned. He was asked to take an indefinite leave last December after he failed to pass a physical test for the civil servant recruitment examination two months prior. His request for labor arbitration on April 28 was accepted by the Guangzhou Labor Personnel Dispute Arbitration Court the same day. More

12/6/2016

Countries commit to double AIDS treatment at UN summit

Source: The China Post

UNITED NATIONS--Countries committed to nearly doubling the number of people who receive life-saving HIV treatment over the next five years as a high-level United Nations conference devoted to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 drew to a close Friday.

During the three-day-long meeting, countries also saw the U.N.'s 193-member states commit for the first time to monitoring the quality of treatment, with a goal of getting 90 percent of those receiving anti-retroviral medicine to reduce their viral load to the point where it is undetectable — something that improves quality of life and reduces the risk of transmission. More

08/6/2016

80% of New HIV Cases in China are Gay Men, Could Reverse Country’s Gains vs. AIDS

Source: Yibada

A U.N. report, released in May, which stated that 75 percent of employed LGBTIs in China are still in the closet, indicates how the country continues to hide the existence of gays.

Still being in the denial stage, both on the personal and national levels, contributes to the recent spike in HIV infections in the country with gay men – or men who have sex with other men – accounting for 80 percent of the new cases, reported PRI. More

08/6/2016

How Focusing On The LGBT Community Can Help China Beat HIV/AIDS Further

Source: Parent Herald

China is steadily making milestones against HIV/AIDS. During the last couple of years, the East Asian country has achieved a less than 0.1 percent of HIV/AIDS prevalence among adults. Experts, however, believed that these achievements will come to naught if the LGBT community remains ignored by the Chinese government.

According to Beijing Today, China's continued ignorance and stigma against the LGBT community makes them exposed to HIV/AIDS threats. In November, China Daily reported about the increasing rates of HIV/AIDS cases among gay men. Eighty percent of new HIV/AIDS cases in the nation are men who have sexual relations with the same sex. More

07/6/2016

To keep winning against AIDS, China needs to talk more about gay sex

Source: global post

When it comes to public health, China’s leaders have done at least one thing very well: They’ve beaten back AIDS.

Indeed, China’s is one of the most impressive turnarounds in the history of HIV and AIDS policy. After facing the threat of an “AIDS typhoon” in the 1990s, China’s adult prevalence of HIV is now less than 0.1 percent, one of the lowest rates on the planet. But this success story is teetering on the edge of defeat, and it all comes down to a growing crisis in the nation’s gay community.