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Media Report 80
Source: | Author:hkb980dd | Published time: 2013-06-07 | 311 Views | Share:
 
Source: Global Times
 
Shanghai municipal government's official Sina Weibo account announced that every child with a Shanghai hukou (permanent residence permit) diagnosed with HIV or AIDS is entitled to a monthly subsidy of 1,400 yuan ($228.29), backdated to January 2012.
 
It added that the personal details of recipients of the money won't be released to the public, and access to the information will be restricted in order to protect the children's privacy. The information was released on June 3, two days after International Children's Day.
 
The sum of 1,400 yuan a month is almost equivalent to the city's standard for the lowest acceptable monthly salary last year, which means it should be enough to guarantee the basic necessities of daily life. It's good news for the families of the children.
 
However, people are divided over the policy to not release the details of the beneficiaries.
 
On one side, the argument is that it is necessary to protect the privacy of the patients to prevent them being discriminated against by others. The AIDS patients and HIV carriers deserve a happy life and society should pay special attention to them.
 
The other side expresses two major concerns. The lack of information transparency and the subsequent lack of supervision could lead to a misappropriation of these funds, meaning they never reach the children that need them. Others are concerned about the health hazards posed towards other people, especially other children who they are in daily close contact with, since the fatal disease is transmissible. This side claims that these children's privacy should not be protected at the cost of endangering other children.
 
We have to admit that both sides are rational. So finding how to keep a balance between the two is a challenge for both local authorities and the public. More…
 
 
04/06/2013
 
Source: Bloomberg
 
China’s infamous one-child policy now has many exception—for instance, spouses who are both single children can now have two children, if they wish—but the government continues to strictly monitor and control fertility. Given the legal imperative to limit unplanned pregnancies, you might expect that Chinese schools would provide comprehensive sex education from an early age. But in response to a recent poll conducted by the Beijing News and a Beijing-based non-governmental organization, the Maple Women’s Psychological Counseling Center, 43.5 percent of parents said there was no sex education in the schools their children attend.
 
More than 90 percent of parents, however, said they favor incorporating sex education into school curricula, including information on birth control and how to ward off unwanted sexual advances. The poll was conducted online and through written questionaires, and the results were released on Monday. About 1,200 parents and children from ages 6 to 14 participated.
 
In the last month, Chinese newspapers have carried several troubling reports about children being allegedly abducted and molested, sometimes by school officials. After four female students under the age of 14 went missing from a school in Hainan Province on May 8, police found they had been kept in a local hotel for one night and video footage showed their former principal entering and exiting their rooms. He has since been charged with rape. The girls were groggy when police found them, indicating they may have been drugged. Separately, three teachers in Shenzhen city, Henan province, and in Hunan province are being investigated for allegedly molesting students. The string of cases has triggered moral outrage in China. Last Wednesday the Supreme People’s Court pledged to strictly prosecute offenders. Rape is a capital offense in China. More…
 
04/06/2013
 
Source: China Daily
 
A new regulation to be implemented on July 1 in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region stipulates that people will be required to register their real names when taking an HIV/AIDS test.
 
The new rule, which was passed by the standing committee of the People’s Congress in Guangxi on May 30 and announced at a recent press conference, also requires that all the testing institutions should protect confidentiality – and must not disclose any information even to the families of those who take the test, without their consent.
 
Given the fact that sexual contact is the main mode of HIV transmission in Guangxi, the regulation also requires those who test positive to inform their spouse or sexual partners.
 
Since the draft law was first made public in January 2012, the proposal for this real-name HIV testing system has been controversial. While many people are in favor of the move, others argue that it will lead to an invasion of privacy.
 
Many HIV or AIDS patients and carriers are strongly against the new rule. In addition to the perceived risks of their own condition being disclosed, they also worry that the new rule may scare off people who were thinking of taking the test and result in a further spread of the disease.
 
The number of AIDS and HIV cases has increased rapidly in Guangxi since 1996, and Fan Xiaohui, a senior official with the Standing Committee of the Guangxi People’s Congress, said the real-name testing system will help the authorities in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in the province. More…
 
 
 
03/06/2013
 
Source: People’s Daily
 
"I feel I'm closer to my dream of being a teacher and I'm so happy about that."
 
These were the words of Xiao Qi (a pseudonym), when he heard that the Guangdong provincial government had lifted a ban - which now stands in every province but Guangdong - that prevented HIV carriers from becoming teachers.
 
Xiao received a high score in the teaching qualification exams in June last year, but the local education bureau in Jiangxi Province rejected his application when medical tests showed that he was an HIV carrier. He sued the bureau for discrimination and received 45,000 yuan ($7,275) in compensation, but didn't get the job.
 
Xiao is optimistic that the lifting of the ban will eventually spread nationwide, however, obstacles remain. As of October 2012, there were 492,191 people with HIV/AIDS in China, according to the Ministry of Health, but NGOs say public awareness of the disease still remains low, often leading to outright fear and resistance to the lifting of the ban.
 
Fierce resistance
 
The lifting of the ban came about after education authorities in Guangdong Province released online a draft of new health standards for teaching candidates. When the clause barring HIV carriers from teaching was exposed, critics pointed out that it was a form of discrimination. More…
 
03/06/2013
 
Source: CRI English
 
A legislation requiring real-name registration for HIV testing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has drawn criticism from experts and AIDS patients despite officials' promises to protect patients' privacy.
 
Zhang Jinxiong, an AIDS patient and founder of Rainbow China, a non-governmental organization that engages in AIDS prevention and the promotion of gay rights, believes the policy will not serve to curb the spread of the virus.
 
"In a society where discrimination against HIV carriers is rampant, real-name testing will scare away potential patients because they will be afraid of breaches of privacy," he said.
 
Guangxi's regional government passed a regulation last Thursday stipulating that anyone who wishes to have an HIV test must provide their personal information to testing agencies.
 
Effective starting from July 1, the regulation requires those who test positive to warn their spouses or partners. It also forbids any attempt to make such information public without the consent of patients or their custodians.
 
Fan Xiaohui, an official from the standing committee of the People's Congress of Guangxi, said the information can help doctors contact those test positive, inform them of their infections and provide professional advice in a timely manner.
 
Medical experts and officials said many testees, out of ignorance of the disease, tend to "disappear" after learning they are HIV positive. A lack of information prevents doctors from reaching out to convince them to receive medical treatment and adopt protective measures.
 
"It will also provide a more accurate record of the AIDS situation in Guangxi, which will contribute to future policymaking regarding AIDS control and prevention," Fan added.
 
But Zhang was skeptical of the policy, saying that real-name registration will do more harm than good.