Governing Hiv In China

HIV and AIDS have long been problematized in the People’s Republic of China as objects of governance in political frameworks and institutions. The state’s attitudes towards health programs have, nevertheless, changed significantly during the 21st century. Pilot programs at the beginning of the century, which focused on underground sex workers, have now developed into the roll-out of a nationwide program, with supportive legislation and broadcast media publicity. This book therefore examines China’s evolving AIDS response, providing an up to date investigation into the positions and practices of the state. It explains the origins, rationales and implementation of initiatives focused on female sex workers and explores the extension of such initiatives to include other populations identified as key to ending the AIDS epidemic, especially homosexual men and rural-to-urban migrant labourers. Ultimately, through an analysis of the different approaches to the governance of commercial sex and sexual health, Governing HIV in China concludes by considering the challenges raised by China’s commitment to the United Nations’ vision of ending AIDS as a global health threat by 2030. This book will be useful for students and scholars of Social Policy, Public Health Policy and Chinese Studies.

China’s concentrated HIV epidemic is on the brink of becoming a generalized one and syphilis infection has become a major public health threat. Social factors relating to gender and gender inequality exacerbate the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI) in China. A better understanding of the proximate social determinants of HIV related to gender will be crucial to effectively curbing HIV and other STIs in China. Aspects of China’s governance - including administrative procedures, the developing legal system, social institutions, and the public health infrastructure – are instrumental in shaping strategies and responses to HIV. International studies suggest that women who are more economically and socially vulnerable may also have a greater risk of HIV infection, yet few initiatives have focused on discrete areas where achievable and sustainable gender policy measures could be linked to the public health response. This study presents perspectives ranging from criminology to social psychology to better understand how gender perspectives can inform HIV policy in the context of China.

This first English language book on China’s AIDS epidemic provides a picture of the current state of the epidemic, a social science and interdisciplinary perspective on gaps in the response, and a blueprint for needed actions. The book’s editors are leading experts on China’s AIDS epidemic, health and political systems. Contributors comprise some of the world’s leading Chinese and international researchers, policy-makers, and civil society representatives working on HIV/AIDS in China. The multi-disciplinary work provides a critically needed social science perspective and analysis of the epidemic, offers a framework for thinking about the spread of HIV in China, and includes suggestions for an effective policy response that also addresses social determinants.

This book compares the policy approaches taken by China and India in dealing with HIV/AIDS, illuminating the challenges they face as they grapple with this intractable disease and identifying best practices for dealing with HIV/AIDS in the developing world and beyond.

With HIV becoming the leading cause of infectious-disease mortality in Mainland China, this book focuses on tackling HIV/AIDS in the face of rapid political and economic change in China. Featuring contributions by over a dozen leading figures in the field, this book is the go-to text for any student or reader interested in how national and international organizations’ are attempting to control this epidemic. The book includes chapters on the epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of HIV, as well as several chapters that discuss in detail specific provincial- and national-level programs to control and treat HIV. It chronicles the Chinese government’s amazing about-face, as it replaced underfunded, non-evidence based policy decisions with successful, science-based approaches to disease control and prevention, including the adoption of once controversial needle-exchange programs and the establishment of a national HIV/AIDS data registry. It measures the success of national policy decisions, the implementation of treatment policies, and discusses the difficulty of accessing high-risk communities, including people who inject drugs, sex workers, and men who have sex with men – groups not easy to reach, study, engage in prevention programs, or treatment, for fear of stigmatization and loss of social status. Further, it documents the spread of HIV to other provinces, and the tragedy that befell repeat plasma donors in Henan and other poor provinces, where reused or improperly sterilized lab equipment caused some villages to have epidemic-level incidence rates. This book represents a positive contribution to the field of AIDS research, making vital, new information available to an interested readership.

Case study: The closure of Orchid Orphanage -- Introduction. Methodology. -- Continuing crackdown in Henan Province. Detention and harassment of Henan AIDS activists -- The mistreatment of activists helping AIDS orphans. -- Harassment of activists workng with persons at hight risk of HIV transmission. Activists working with injection drug users and sex workers -- Restrictions on AIDS information for men who have sex with men -- Internet censorship. -- Institutional barriers to AIDS organizations. NGO registration and management laws -- Registering as a commercial enterprise -- Bureaucratic harassment -- Obligations under international law. -- Conclusion. -- Recommendations. To the government of the People's Republic of China: on civil society, on HIV/AIDS policy -- To the Henan provincial government and other local authorities in China -- To the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other international donors to HIV/AIDS programs in China -- To U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights -- To the U.N. Theme Group on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS and other U.N. agencies with AIDS programs in China -- To international partners in bilateral rights dialogues with China -- Acknowledgements.

Contains testimony and prepared statements by Amarmath Bhat, Yanhai Wan, Kevin Robert Frost, and Phillip Nieburg.

This paper offers a detailed analysis of the epidemiological and legal paradigm for HIV risk in China, paying a particular attention to China's public security involvement in addressing HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the past two decades, instead of developing a supportive environment of HIV/AIDS prevention and care, China has developed a punitive approach in its responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including cracking down on prostitution, drug use and drug trafficking, illegal blood collection, and intentional HIV transmission. The paper reviews how the Chinese government painted HIV/AIDS as a foreigner's disease and moral problem in 1987-2006, and China's discrimination and isolation policy against people with HIV/AIDS. In 2006, the Chinese government began to implement China's Regulations on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment which commits to guarantee equal rights of people with HIV/AIDS in medical care, marriage, employment and education, but in reality people with HIV/AIDS are facing severe discrimination on medical care, marriage, employment and education. Finally, the paper introduces China's public security surveillance against people with HIV/AIDS or people at risk of HIV infection nationally, which causes stigmatization, privacy disclosure, and rights violations against people with HIV/AIDS.