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China province to require AIDS tests for some
By Christopher Bodeen
March 22, 2005
China's southwestern province of Yunnan will require annual AIDS tests for
people working in hotels, nightclubs and other entertainment outlets, a local
official and the government's Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday.
Under the new rules, announced Monday and effective immediately, those testing
positive will be fired, Xinhua said, citing the text of the regulation.
But Wang Yinsheng, an official with the Yunnan AIDS Prevention Center, said
health authorities wouldn't insist that those found to be infected be fired.
They could instead be moved to jobs not involving contact with the public, he
suggested.
The free tests are meant to identify people with HIV and AIDS in order to
provide them with treatment and curb the disease's spread, said Wang.
"Identifying this special group of people helps to reduce the chance of
spreading and helps them to get timely treatment," Wang said.
Those who test positive for HIV/AIDS or for venereal diseases would be denied a
certificate of good health, without which they cannot legally work in the
hospitality or service industries, Xinhua said.
Employees of hotels, bath houses, beauty salons, night clubs and other
entertainment venues are covered by the rules, which appeared to be an implicit
official recognition of the role such facilities play in the country's thriving
sex industry.
Bordering on Southeast Asia's drug-producing Golden Triangle, Yunnan has
China's second largest population of registered AIDS sufferers - 18,000
according to official figures. The province has taken some of the country's
most aggressive measures, including promoting condom use and clean needles and
setting up AIDS centers.
Most of the 1 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in China became so through
intravenous drug use, although unsanitary blood-buying schemes mainly in the
central province of Henan - the worst affected area - accounted for large
numbers as well.
Henan has also mandated AIDS tests for people in service industries.
China for years hid its AIDS outbreak but has become increasingly open amid
warnings the disease is spreading from high-risk groups to the general
population.
The U.N. AIDS agency says the number of infected people in China could rise to
10 million by 2010 unless urgent action is taken.
Since last year, health officials have offered a free AIDS test to anyone who
wants one and free treatment for the poor. Health officials are also now
encouraging pregnant women to be tested.
Despite the new openness, infection still carries a heavy stigma. Few AIDS
sufferers have gone public and people have been shunned by entire villages
after residents were found to have contracted the disease.
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China
plans database of HIV/AIDS victims
3-21-2005
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