Prostitution in China :Crackdown on Sex City

Source: The Economist

A CRACKDOWN on prostitution in a leading hub of China’s thriving sex trade may provide a peek into just how big the industry is nationwide. Police in the southern city of Dongguan reacted to a nationally televised exposé about local prostitution with raids (pictured at right) on February 9th against 2,000 entertainment venues and the arrests of more than 60 people. 

Located in Guangdong province, Dongguan has long been nicknamed “Sex City”, and the report on China Central Television (CCTV) appeared not to surprise many people. Rather, the segment and subsequent police action have drawn heavy criticism online, with thousands of people on social media expressing sympathy for the prostitutes and their clients, while mocking government officials.

“It’s not only Guangdong. In all parts of the country, there are red-light districts everywhere, even in small barely developed mountain villages. Officials turn a blind eye, and police go for free,” reads a comment (in Chinese) on Sina.com from a user from Guizhou. 

Many comments snidely upbraided CCTV for deploying its resources this way. “If you have guts, go do a secret investigation on forced demolitions...” reads another (also in Chinese). “To come here and bully disadvantaged social groups is just senseless and shameless!” More…

13/02/2014

UNAIDS and Lancet Commission to put forward recommendations on AIDS and global health for the post-2015 debate

Source: UNAIDS

LONDON/GENEVA, 13 February 2014—The UNAIDS and Lancet Commission: Defeating AIDS – Advancing global health is meeting in London on the future of AIDS and global health in the post-2015 era—the recommendations will be published in The Lancet later this year.

“The fight against AIDS is not over yet. We need to intensify efforts to achieve a historic victory against this disease,” said the President of the Republic of Ghana John Dramani Mahama. “Everyone has a key role to play in achieving this objective. We have to take action to ensure that we are doing the best possible for our countries, for our people and for humanity.”

“We have made remarkable progress in the fight against AIDS but the fight is not over and complacency is our worst enemy,” said the President of Benin, Yayi Boni through a video message. “Ending AIDS and extreme poverty is a shared responsibility that must be a priority for Africa and the world.”

The Commission, which was established in early 2013 brings together more than 40 Heads of State and political leaders, HIV and health experts, young people, activists, scientists and private sector representatives to ensure that lessons learned in the AIDS response can be applied to transform how countries and partners approach health and development. More…

31/01/2014

Sex Has Become the Main Mode of HIV Transmission in China

Source: Council on Foreign Relations

Fifteen years ago, in light of the rapid spread of the HIV cases and the absence of effective government response, UN officials warned that China could have over 10 million HIV cases by 2010.  Thankfully, that prophesy was not fulfilled.  In fact, China today has an estimated 780,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.  The adult prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS is only 0.1 percent, the same as Japan’s and less than the United Kingdom’s (0.2 percent) and the United States’ (0.6 percent).  Comparatively, in 2010, China had 36,200 AIDS-related deaths—the same number of people die annually as a result of seasonal flu in the United States—compared to 1.7 million who died of stroke and nearly 1 million who died of heart disease.

To the credit of the government and international health agencies, China has made great strides in HIV/AIDS prevention and control over the past decade.  The government crackdown on unsafe and illegal blood collections has contributed to the rapid drop in the share of HIV/AIDS cases attributed to blood transfusion and plasma donation, from nearly 30 percent during 1985-2005 to 3.3 percent in 2011. Between 2004 and 2009, the number of injecting drug users (IDUs) under methadone maintenance treatment expanded from 1,029 to 344,254, which, in combination with other harm reduction measures, are associated with a marked fall in new HIV infections in IDUs, whose share in total reported HIV/AIDS cases dropped from around 44 percent during the 1985-2005 era to 17 percent in 2011. More…

30/01/2014

Prostitution and AIDS: In need of more protection

Source: The Economist

LIKE banquets and the grain liquor know as baijiu, prostitution has become a widely accepted feature of the business rituals of millions of Chinese men. So when rumours erupted recently of an AIDS epidemic among middle-end Chinese sex workers in the manufacturing centre of Dongguan, the government was forced to speak up. 

There is a problem with HIV and AIDS spreading in the southern city, health officials acknowledged. But they insisted that the rumoured numbers are greatly exaggerated.

Dongguan, a gritty factory-laden sprawl in Guangdong province, is home to hundreds of KTVS, or karaoke parlours. Often located in business hotels, these are barely disguised brothels where the services of female “hostesses” are bought and sold. The KTV façade spread rapidly across China in recent years, with hostess bars even infiltrating well-known American and European chain hotels.

On Jan. 21st, the Dongguan health bureau refuted rumours that 2,700 KTV hostesses in the city are HIV positive. In fact, it said, there are just over 2,000 confirmed HIV/AIDS infections in the entire city and that only one-fifth of those are among women. Still, the health bureau acknowledged that the city “is entering a high incidence period of HIV/AIDS.” It has unrolled a mass AIDS education campaign and is urging “high-risk” groups like sex workers, their clients and gay men to take precautions.

“We should use knowledge to guide our behaviours and avoid high-risk behaviours,” the health bureau said. “If a high-risk behaviour occurs, we should be responsible for ourselves and the families to proactively take the tests and take necessary treatment in a timely manner.”