[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 107 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
HIV/AIDS IN CHINA: CAN DISASTER BE AVERTED?
=======================================================================
ROUNDTABLE
before the
CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 9, 2002
__________
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CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
Senate House
MAX BAUCUS, Montana, Chairman DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska, Co-
CARL LEVIN, Michigan Chairman
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JIM LEACH, Iowa
BYRON DORGAN, North Dakota DAVID DREIER, California
EVAN BAYH, Indiana FRANK WOLF, Virginia
CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska JOE PITTS, Pennsylvania
BOB SMITH, New Hampshire SANDER LEVIN, Michigan
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
JIM DAVIS, Florida
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
PAULA DOBRIANSKY, Department of State
GRANT ALDONAS, Department of Commerce
D. CAMERON FINDLAY, Department of Labor
LORNE CRANER, Department of State
JAMES KELLY, Department of State
Ira Wolf, Staff Director
John Foarde, Deputy Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
STATEMENTS
Kaufman, Joan, visiting scholar, East Asia Legal Studies Program,
Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA.............................. 2
Gill, Bates, Freeman Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic
and International Studies [CSIS]. Washington, DC............... 5
Des Jarlais, Don, director of research, Edmond de Rothschild
Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center, New
York City, NY.................................................. 9
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements
Kaufman, Joan.................................................... 26
Gill, Bates...................................................... 27
Des Jarlais, Don................................................. 39
HIV/AIDS IN CHINA:
CAN DISASTER BE AVERTED?
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2002
Congressional-Executive
Commission on China,
Washington, DC.
The roundtable was convened, pursuant to notice, at 2:30
p.m., in room SD-215, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Ira Wolf,
(staff director) presiding.
Also present: John Foarde, deputy staff director; Susan
Weld, general counsel; Holly Vineyard, U.S. Department of
Commerce; and Jennifer Goedke, Office of Representative Kaptur.
Mr. Wolf. I would like to welcome everyone today to this
11th staff-led roundtable of the Congressional-Executive
Commission on China.
Today, our subject is HIV/AIDS. The next roundtable will be
on September 23 on Women's Rights: The New Population and
Family Planning Law in China. We will continue this series
every 2 weeks through the fall.
On Wednesday, October 2 at 10 a.m. in this room, the
members of the Commission will hold a press conference to
release the first annual report of the Commission.
We have three participants today. Dr. Joan Kaufman is a
visiting scholar at the East Asia Legal Studies Program at
Harvard University and has been the program officer for Gender
and Reproductive Health with the Ford Foundation in China.
Welcome.
Dr. Bates Gill holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS] in
Washington, DC. Dr. Don Des Jarlais is from the Beth Israel
Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New
York City.
The roundtable on HIV/AIDS is very timely. Qi Xiaoqiu, the
director general of the Department of Disease Control at
China's Ministry of Health, was quoted in the news on Saturday
as saying ``we need international organizations to help us in
this battle to control AIDS.''
At the same time, Wan Yanhai, one of China's most outspoken
advocates for AIDS patients, disappeared on August 24 and now
it appears that the State security has acknowledged that he is
in their custody, apparently for revealing State secrets.
Some people have asked how HIV/AIDS can be considered a
human rights issue as compared to just a medical issue.
I know that Dr. Gill discusses this in his testimony.
But I wanted to quote from the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights.
There is clear evidence that where individuals and
communities are able to realize their rights to education, free
association, information, and most importantly non-
discrimination, the personal and societal impact of HIV and
AIDS are reduced. The protection and promotion of human rights
are therefore essential to preventing the spread of HIV and to
mitigating the social and economic impact of the pandemic.
I think Dr. Wan's detention illustrates the truth of this.
We also have the intersection of many varied themes:
Development of civil society, government willingness or
unwillingness to tackle tough problems, corruption, especially
at the local level, the danger of simply speaking out in China,
the problems with a system that shows little transparency, and
the rights of the poor and the most vulnerable.
Anyway, let's get started.
Dr. Kaufman, please begin.
STATEMENT OF JOAN KAUFMAN, VISITING SCHOLAR, EAST ASIA LEGAL
STUDIES PROGRAM, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MA
Ms. Kaufman. Great. Well, thank you very much. I should
just say that I am a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School
this year. I was a Radcliffe fellow last year.
What I would like to do is just give a brief overview of
the AIDS epidemic in China, then I would be happy to answer any
specific questions related to the more human rights aspects,
especially related to Wan Yanhai. I just returned from 2 weeks
in China. I came back on August 30, and was there when he was
arrested.
Let me just give you a very brief overview and say that, as
of just this past week, the government has raised its own
estimate of the number of HIV-infected people in China from
850,000, just announced last August, to a million. But most
people still feel that is an under-estimate.
U.N. AIDS estimates there are probably about 1.2 million
infected now, and that does not take into account the unfolding
information about the Henan Province blood-acquired epidemic.
U.N. AIDS also predicts that there could be 10-20 million
people infected by 2010.
The key subgroups in China for the AIDS epidemic have
mainly been intravenous drug users who are officially 70
percent of the cases. But the unfolding paid blood donors
scandal in China, I think, will dwarf that.
These are people who donated blood during the 1990s, in
unclean blood collection stations and who now are getting sick,
and many of their family members are also infected. This is
likely to be at least a million people in Henan, and similar
situations are unfolding in a number of other provinces.
Female commercial sex workers are also another at-risk
group, and you have seen in several provinces increasing
prevalence of HIV among sex workers, and also homosexual men,
who are a very hidden group in China.
Let me go through each group and talk a little bit about
these epidemics and some of the issues. I was going to start
off with drug users. I am going to defer that to Don Des
Jarlais, because that is pretty much what he will be talking
about. If he does not come, maybe I will add that back in at
the end.
The paid blood donor situation has been mainly an epidemic
among poor farmers who sold their blood for money during much
of the 1990s as a major source of income, and very related to
the economic changes going on in rural China and the
disappearance of other sources of income, especially for poor
farmers.
It was a very widespread practice. Henan Province, in
central China, is the place we know the most about, but there
have been reports from at least nine other provinces of similar
practices. So, I believe it is just the tip of the iceberg and
we will see this continue to unfold.
There has been rumored probable complicity by local
officials in the collection of blood, and even a supposed call
from the Ministry of Health, that this was a good way for local
health bureaus to make money.
Then there is also the as yet unrevealed role of the
pharmaceutical companies, the plasma and blood products
companies in Shanghai and other cities, that will probably be
revealed over the coming years, in setting up these blood
collection stations.
In Henan alone, there were over 200 sites and many people
sold their blood repeatedly over many years for about $5 a bag.
The government prohibited paid blood donations in 1998, but the
practice continued in some places.
In some affected villages, over 60 percent of the adult
population is infected. With that has come sexual transmission
to spouses who were not infected themselves from paid blood
donation, and vertical transmission to children.
Henan, in particular, is on the verge of a huge orphan
problem, with two parents dying of AIDS and very little other
civil affairs arrangements made for care of these orphans who
are highly
stigmatized.
There is little prevention and public education that is
being done to prevent further spread within the province, and a
certain amount of stonewalling by provincial officials because
of their complicity in this problem, although on my recent trip
to Beijing I was really happy to hear that there are a number
of initiatives under way in Henan and the pending Global Fund
submission is mainly about providing care to ill people in
Henan Province. So, there is more happening now.
Let me move on to sex workers and say that there is
widespread prostitution in China now that has emerged over the
last 20 years, with very high rates of STDs, and especially in
places like Guangdong and some of the southern provinces, high
rates of syphilis, which are a harbinger of the coming AIDS
epidemic.
You have had HIV rates among sex workers increasing in
places like Guangxi Province, it is almost 11 percent, and
Yunnan Province, about 5 percent. So, this is really the
evidence that it is going to quickly move into a sexual
epidemic in China.
It is also evidence that the time to act is at this moment,
because one could avert a major epidemic by dealing
aggressively with the sex worker HIV situation before it moves
into the general population.
There is low condom use among sex workers, and, in general,
a low AIDS knowledge, particularly outside of the big cities.
The
clients of sex workers--rural economic migrants--move all over
the country.
But some recent research has shown that middle-class men,
businessmen, and entrepreneurs and officials are the major
clients of sex workers, the ones, with the most frequent visits
who really need to be targeted.
So any thought that this epidemic is only going to be about
poor rural farmers and rural economic migrants, is quickly
being dispelled as untrue, and there is more recognition
recently that China's productive working-age population is very
much at risk through their fraternization with sex workers
around the country.
Homosexual men. Let me say, briefly, that homosexual men
are a highly stigmatized and hidden population in China. Most
of them are married and they have not been at all addressed as
part of the limited AIDS response in China.
But recent data has shown that, for instance, a third of
hospitalized AIDS patients in China, in Beijing, in the year
2000 were gay men. They have few channels for information,
little prevention, and the situation of gay men and HIV risk is
really a situation of discrimination and fear of exposure, is
going to be a challenge to address.
Vulnerable groups. You have youth, who are a highly
vulnerable group for HIV/AIDS in China. There is little sex
education, a real reluctance to talk about sexual matters, and
a feeling that one should never talk about sexual matters with
unmarried people, and very limited AIDS knowledge and virtually
no sexual health services available for young people in China.
But this is in contrast to very rapidly changing sexual
attitudes and behaviors, as evidenced by things like the
increasing rate of abortions among unmarried people, and many
behavioral surveys which have documented early onset of sexual
behavior among young people in China. It is still nothing like
the United States and other developed countries, because in
China there is still fairly late sexual debut and limited
numbers of partners.
But I have just returned from a rural county in Guizhou
Province on the border of Sichuan. In that county, that very
poor rural county, there were three adolescent pregnancies in
the last year. I think that is a real statement about changing
sexual behavior in China, an unheard of situation only 5 to 10
years ago.
As with most people in China, youth have very low self-
perception of risk and virtually no condom use or access to
condoms, so they are very much at risk for HIV. Rural women are
also at risk not by their own sexual behavior, but from their
returning migrant husbands.
There are 150 million people on the move in China, economic
migrants, most of them men, who come home to their home
villages once or twice a year. There are underlying
reproductive tract infections that make rural women very
susceptible to HIV infection.
The potential impacts of the epidemic could really
compromise economic progress of the last 20 years. A couple of
recent studies have come out which show that there may be, even
with a low-increase scenario, a substantial economic impact.
As I mentioned, there is a growing AIDS orphan issue in the
poor rural areas with virtually no mechanism to deal with care
for these kids, discrimination keeping these kids out of
school, families falling into poverty to pay for treatment, and
the potential for rural protests by innocent victims. The
public is beginning to mobilize around the issue of these
innocent victims. This has been a kind of ``Ryan White'' issue
for China.
The negative constraints are that there has been very
little highest-level policy leadership yet and much local
inaction. I would say the epidemic is unfolding in China
because of a collection of local public policy failures: fiscal
devolution in the health system and the budgets are strained in
poor areas, make it very difficult for local government to pay
for the necessary prevention and care activities; high levels
of discrimination and fear-based laws aimed at protecting the
public; a limited number of civil society organizations that
could actually take up the battle; constraints on media
coverage and information which make it difficult for people to
know about the AIDS epidemic and what has worked in other
countries; and complicity by local governments and denial.
But on the positive side, there has been a recent admission
of the severity of the problem and requests for international
help, and an existing, albeit weakened, health infrastructure
through which to mount a response.
There also exists a very good public education
infrastructure through the family planning program and the
Party organs that could be mobilized to do the necessary AIDS
education, and the ability to mobilize the Party and government
around a national action agenda and access to treatment and
care which are just
beginning. China recently announced plans to manufacture AIDS
anti-retroviral drugs if the drug companies do not offer
reasonable prices.
So, these are basically the highlights of the China AIDS
epidemic at this point in time. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Kaufman appears in the
appendix.]
Mr. Wolf. Thanks.
Bates.
STATEMENT OF BATES GILL, FREEMAN CHAIR IN CHINA STUDIES, CENTER
FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES [CSIS], WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Gill. Thank you very much. Let me thank you, and John,
and Susan, and the rest of the members of the Commission staff
for this opportunity to speak with you.
I just want to roughly cover the testimony in three parts.
First, offer a brief overview with a focus on what information
we have with HIV-AIDS in China and why we need to be highly
skeptical and cautious in treating those so-called facts.
Second, a focus then on something I hope is more
interesting to the Commission itself, and that is the
implications for issues of human rights, rule of law,
discrimination, etc., of this issue.
Third, to address what is being done in China and in the
United States to confront the Chinese HIV/AIDS challenge and
what additional policy recommendations I hope you as a
Commission could put forward to our policymakers to deal with
this problem. And, of course, I look forward to the discussion
following this presentation.
I think it is important to note that there are forces both
old and new which are exacerbating the problem inside China in
dealing with the HIV/AIDS problem. On the one hand, of course,
you have this remarkable socioeconomic liberalization and
opening up which is driving this problem.
You have relaxed residency restrictions, a large floating
population of itinerant labor, liberalized social attitudes
toward sex, a dilapidated and dangerous health care system
falling apart in the wake of the reforms.
But on the other hand, you have what I would call
traditional attitudes as well, such as a preference for male
children, which we can talk about later, which is, I think, an
important factor, or could be, in driving the HIV/AIDS problem
in the future in China.
As Joan mentioned, there is a general reluctance to discuss
openly sexual subjects, and more generally a lack of awareness
on sexually transmitted diseases. These traditional factors
have also played a part.
As Joan noted, the Chinese Government today claims that
there are about one million HIV-positive persons in China. That
statement alone should make us raise our eyebrows, because it
is only a year ago that they said there were 600,000. That is a
jump of 67 percent in 1 year.
That is not because the HIV-positive population is growing
that fast, it is because the China Government does not really
know how many persons have HIV and they keep revising the
figure upward.
But even if you take the Chinese figures as basically right
and you take their estimate of something in the range of 20 to
25 percent annual growth, China is going to have more than 6
million persons infected with HIV in the next 5 or 8 years, by
2010. That puts it ahead of where South Africa currently
stands, and South Africa is the world's most heavily infected
country, at about 5.8 million.
But let me just say a few words of caution about these
figures. China only counts about 30,000 officially registered
and confirmed HIV-positive persons in the country, so again
that tells you that this estimate of one million, who knows
where they are getting that figure from.
I think, as Joan says, and I concur with her, that even the
one million figure is probably an under-estimate for both
practical and political reasons. Practically speaking, China
simply does not have the resources or expertise available to
provide the necessary surveillance and sentinel sites from
which they can judge accurately the extent of their HIV-AIDS
problem.
The floating population, as I am sure you have all heard
about, is just another example. This, I think, is a population
which is at risk. It is true that there are more males than
females, but in the all-important age group of 15 to 19, at
early stages of sexual activity among Chinese, there are more
females than males.
According to a study which we saw at the Barcelona HIV/AIDS
meeting, about 55 percent of females in the floating population
are engaged in so-called ``entertainment services.'' These are
precisely the sorts of jobs which often can lead to commercial
sex work.
So the floating population I think is one we need to pay a
great deal of attention to. But the Chinese figures that we
see, and efforts officially that we see for them to deal with
the HIV/AIDS problem, completely ignore the floating population
as a potential problem or factor.
Of course, you are very familiar, beyond these practical
matters, of the political problems, a wish to contain knowledge
about the problem, especially with regard to the tainted blood
scandal, when you have got local officials who may well be
complicit with the spread of HIV/AIDS. Of course, they are
trying to avoid bad news, so you do not get the accuracy that
you need.
So these numbers need to be treated with a good bit of
caution and they point to an enormous challenge, even of
themselves, even if the Chinese figure of one million is
correct. That sure is a huge problem.
But, in addition, there are these exogenous factors which
also exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS in China: the failing
health care system, a lack of adequate drug treatments.
But, even if all the drugs were available to China today,
you still would have the problem of training both doctors and
patients in their proper use and monitoring their proper
regimen, because misuse of drugs can lead to the emergence of
resistant strains and can be just as complicated.
We have that problem in this country of emergent resistant
strains of HIV because, (A) some doctors do not know how to
properly prescribe anti-HIV drugs and (B) patients--they can be
forgiven--have difficulty adhering as strictly as they must to
the proper dosage.
But in addition, in China, of course, we have heard about
the poor education and awareness overall, which is another
exacerbating problem. I think, importantly, the Ministry of
Health, which is being largely charged with this battle in
China, is a weak bureaucratic actor and is going to have
enormous troubles overcoming the traditional stovepiping that
you see in Chinese bureaucracies on the one hand, and on the
other hand there is a traditional wariness within the Chinese
Government about grassroots organizations and civil society
activism that might be able to deal with the problem at that
other end.
I think a key point that I hope you will be able to take
away from this discussion is that the Health Ministry, I think,
is well aware of this problem and I think is working extremely
hard to try to deal with this issue.
But other parts of the government may well be less
enthusiastic, I think security apparatus, for one, which see
another side of this problem. For example, criminality,
linking, if you have HIV/AIDS, then you must either be a
prostitute or a drug abuser, or a
homosexual.
On the one hand, that, I think, complicates efforts by the
Health Ministry and others to deal with this problem more
effectively. Or the security apparatus is also going to be, as
I said, wary of grassroots organizations such as that of Wan
Yanhai that might be operating outside of party and State
oversight.
Let me turn, quickly, to some of the implications for human
rights, rule of law, and civil society. Joan has already
mentioned the problem of social stigmatization, which is fueled
by poor levels of awareness and education on HIV.
But the problems faced by HIV-infected individuals, their
families, and other supporters goes beyond social stigma. We
are aware of laws and regulations, especially at a local level,
that only reflect the paranoia and lack of awareness, and can
affect basic questions of employment, access to health care,
access to education.
You have questions of privacy and confidentiality, and even
issues of whether you are free to marry and move in search of
gainful employment that can also be all affected by whether or
not you are perceived to be a victim of HIV/AIDS, either as
HIV-positive, or even as a family member of a person who is.
If persons are stigmatized, criminalized, or harassed, of
course, they are going to be far less likely to self-report or
voluntarily submit to HIV testing, which is only going to drive
the problem further underground.
We see, in the case of Wan Yanhai, recently, that while
there are a number of sanctioned organizations that are
accepted by the government as being legitimate in the pursuit
of supporting efforts to address the HIV/AIDS problem, such as,
for example, the China AIDS Network, which is based at Peking
Union Medical College.
There are many other activists who we are more familiar
with, perhaps, from our newspaper reporting who have not fared
as well, like Gao Yaojie and Wan Yanhai. So I think a part of
the Commission's work needs to be to encourage counterparts in
China to be more open to the possibilities of these community-
based organizations [CBOs] and non-governmental organizations
[NGOs] in addressing what is, I think, at its root, a community
and local issue to be dealt with, first and foremost.
Let me turn, finally, to some suggested policy responses.
We should be happy that China's 5-year plan, recently issued
last year by the Health Ministry, was done at all.
But there are many problems with it and it does not get
into many of the key social, political, and legal issues which
are going to need to be addressed by any comprehensive plan. It
is mostly a medical approach to the HIV-AIDS problem.
Targeting the floating population, for example, is missing.
Reassuring those who are HIV-positive that their privacy
concerns and confidentiality will be protected. The passage of
non-discriminatory regulations and so forth. None of this is
addressed in the Chinese 5-year plan that is currently out
there.
So much more needs to be done in China. I am hopeful that
with the Commission's dealings with counterparts in China, they
can make a number of suggestions.
For example, it seems to me there ought to be created a
formal and fully staffed office of national HIV/AIDS policy in
China. Currently, the highest-ranking organization dealing with
this issue in China today is a kind of ``lingdao xiaozu'', or a
small leading group, led by Li Lanqing.
I would think it would be more effective to have a more
permanent and day-to-day staffed organization that had both the
political and the financial resources to coordinate and come up
with a comprehensive, over-arching, multi-agency approach to
this problem in China.
Nationalization of the junior high school sex education
program would certainly be effective. It is my understanding
that there are some pilot programs in China today, but that it
has not yet been extended at a national level, but certainly
could be given, the central role of education in China.
We should also see that there is increased knowledge about
sexually transmitted diseases, and an increase in the ability
of China to surveil and monitor and come up with accurate
figures of what sort of problem they are really dealing with.
Of course, much greater resources should be devoted to
cleaning the blood supply in China, and much work needs to be
done to revise national HIV-AIDS-related laws to ensure civil
rights
protections.
Let me close very quickly, in just 1 more minute, if I may.
I note in my testimony some ideas for the U.S. Government as
well. I think we are seeing some positive steps forward with
the announcement earlier this summer of a grant of $14.8
million from our Health and Human Services Department to assist
the Chinese CDC in training and research. But much more can be
done.
I think we need to continue to remind our friends in China
that this is receiving high-level official attention here in
the United States and that we are watching carefully what sort
of responses they are undertaking in China.
I am hopeful that during the upcoming summit between
President Bush and Jiang Zemin in October, the two sides can
prominently note and support the expansion of ongoing United
States-Chinese programs on HIV/AIDS.
Our support, whether it be financial or political, should
largely be aimed at HIV/AIDS-related education, awareness,
blood safety, medical training, epidemiological research, and
assistance in updating and distributing national treatment
guidelines, as well as the development of rule of law
initiatives in this area of medical/legal work.
My point here is that at this stage of China's epidemic, it
seems to me that the best thing that we can offer would be ways
to improve education, training, and knowledge about the extent
of this problem in China, and ways that HIV/AIDS can be
prevented going forward.
I also suggest that perhaps we consider initiating Peace
Corps efforts in China which might offer HIV/AIDS awareness and
preventive education and training programs.
Finally, that we improve within our own government our
ability to integrate HIV/AIDS issues into the inter-agency
consultation that goes on on science and technology issues with
regard to China.
I will close there. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Gill appears in the
appendix.]
Mr. Wolf. Thanks, Bates.
We are joined by Dr. Don Des Jarlais. Please, go ahead.
STATEMENT OF DON DES JARLAIS, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, EDMOND DE
ROTHSCHILD CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY INSTITUTE, BETH ISRAEL MEDICAL
CENTER, NEW YORK CITY, NY
Mr. Des Jarlais. Thank you.
First, I would like to apologize for being slightly late.
When I got to the airport to catch the flight down, the only
government-issue picture ID I had was my State of New York
World Trade Center ID. The security people were no longer
accepting that ID, so I had to go back home and get a different
one. I had an office in the Trade Center.
I want to speak specifically on the linked epidemics of HIV
and injecting drug use in China. About 10 years ago, the U.S.
National Commission on AIDS issued a report called ``The Twin
Epidemics of HIV and Drug Use'' about those problems in the
United States.
Much of that report can be applied to China, particularly
the idea that if you do not address both of these problems, you
will not be successful with either of them.
I also want to note that there is potentially very strong
linkage between injecting drug use and sexual transmission of
HIV in China, transmission from male drug users to their non-
injecting wives, transmission from male drug users to
commercial sex workers, and then potentially on to other non-
injectors, and although it is still at a very early stage, the
potential for female drug users to engage in commercial sex
work.
I am currently working on three different research projects
on HIV and drug use in China, and I would like to briefly
describe those and some of the preliminary findings, because I
think that those findings have implications for the country as
a whole.
First is the World Health Organization [WHO] multi-site
study of injecting drug use and HIV. It is currently in its
second phase. It involves 14 different cities throughout the
world, including cities in Latin America, North America,
Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Beijing is represented in this study. Wu Zunyou of the
Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine is the principal
investigator for the Beijing site. He is currently finishing up
his data collection.
But the preliminary findings from Beijing indicate an
unusually high degree of stigmatization of both HIV and
injecting drug use in Beijing, probably more than any of the
other cities participating in this World Health Organization
study.
Normally when we recruit drug users, it is quite easy to
get them to bring their peers, their colleagues, to come into
the study. That turned out to be quite difficult in Beijing.
There is a lack of trust between the drug users and the health
authorities in the city that is remarkable in terms of other
cities throughout the world.
The political sensitivities of Beijing in particular seem
to make it very, very difficult to admit injecting drug use, to
admit being HIV-positive. These undoubtedly will make doing HIV
prevention work much more difficult in that city, and in some
ways reflect the policy problems that both HIV and injecting
drug use pose for the Chinese Government.
Any indication of drug use or HIV in Beijing itself is
considered to be potentially extremely embarrassing, and so
trying to work in that city is much more difficult than in most
cities throughout the world.
The second study I would like to mention is the China-
United Kingdom Project on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care. Cheng
Feng and William Stewart are the principal investigators. This
is going on in multiple provinces in China.
The idea behind this is to provide comprehensive
programming to reduce both sexual and drug use transmission of
HIV and provision of care for HIV-infected persons.
Now, this has involved situational assessments of sexual
health and rapid assessment of drug use risks. This study was
able to obtain an understanding with the Chinese Government to
permit ``social marketing of sterile syringes'' to reduce HIV
transmission in China.
This is short of approval of syringe exchange programs,
which are one of the most effective means of preventing HIV
among drug users in the world. But, instead of having formal
exchange programs, the drug users are to be encouraged to go to
local pharmacies to purchase sterile injection equipment.
This project has also been working on a pilot methadone
maintenance treatment program in order to provide treatment for
addiction. Unfortunately, that has not received final approval
yet.
The third project I would like to mention is one with Ted
Hammett of Abt Associates, Liu Wei of Guangxi Province, and
Chung A of the National AIDS Standing Bureau [NASB] of Hanoi.
This is the cross-border project between China and Vietnam.
We are working to try to prevent HIV transmission among drug
injectors in the Longsong Province of Vietnam and Guangxi
Province of Southern China.
That is an extremely porous border. People walk across it
every day. If you are a drug user and you hear the price of
heroin is better across the border, you walk across the border
and purchase your drugs. If you hear that police activity is a
little more strenuous on one side of the border, you tend to
inject on the other side of the border.
Here, I think the important point is that if we want to
consider HIV in China, we will have to consider not only China
itself, but the surrounding countries. There is clearly HIV
transmission across the southern borders with Vietnam, Myanmar,
Laos, Thailand, the Golden Triangle region. There is also
strong indication of HIV spreading through China and into the
Central Asian republics, that HIV really does not respect
national borders.
If it is to be controlled in China, this will involve
having to work with other countries in the region. Having
successful prevention on one side of the border will not work
if the people then cross the border and become infected on the
other side, and then return to their homes.
So if we want to think about controlling HIV in China, we
are also going to have to address the region as a whole and not
just one country.
The preliminary findings from this study are relatively
positive. There are good working relationships between the
Chinese health authorities and the Vietnamese health
authorities. Peer education programs have been implemented on
both sides of the border.
Unfortunately, however, we are running into some
indications of difficulties with the police, that the drug
users are being encouraged to use sterile injection equipment,
but they are afraid that they will be arrested for carrying
sterile injection equipment, which greatly reduces the chances
of practicing safe injection.
There are four main points I want to make with respect to
HIV and drug use in China. The first is the potential for
extremely rapid spread of HIV among drug users. There are
incidence rates of 20 to 50 percent of the local population of
drug injectors becoming infected in a single year, so you can
go from no one infected to half of the local population within
a single year. We have seen rapid transmission like that in
India, in Thailand, and in a few places in China already.
We have also noted that HIV is present in drug injectors in
all Chinese provinces, so there is the potential for very, very
rapid transmission, forming a pool virus that would then spread
to both new injectors and sexual partners.
At the same time, there is also the potential for extremely
effective HIV prevention among drug users. Arguably, HIV
prevention programs for drug users have been among the most
effective in the world. There are countries such as the United
Kingdom and Australia that have kept their HIV infection rates
to under 5 percent of all injecting drug users for the last 20
years.
So, while there is the potential for extremely rapid spread
of the virus, there is also the potential for very effective
prevention programs. The three characteristics of effective
prevention programs for drug users are to, first, begin the
programs early. Do not wait for the rapid spread, but begin the
programs as soon as possible.
Second, provide trusting communications between health
workers and drug users. This usually involves doing outreach in
the
community rather than waiting for drug users to come into
institutions.
Third, provide good access to sterile injection equipment,
and specifically the ability to use that injection equipment.
I would also like to talk a little bit about the growth of
illicit drug use in China. We have a tendency to think of drug
using populations as relatively stable. In some parts of the
world, such as East Asia and Eastern Europe, that is the exact
opposite.
At present, there are officially registered 860,000 drug
users in China. That number has increased by over 50 percent in
the last year. The actual number of drug users is probably much
greater than the officially registered. Illicit drug use in
China would be a major public health problem even without the
additional problem of HIV.
Now, just a few, short recommendations. Clearly, there is
an immediate need for programs to prevent HIV transmission
among injecting drug users, for programs to prevent spread to
their sexual partners, for programs to prevent initiation into
injecting drug use. There is a need for treatment programs,
health-based treatment programs such as methadone maintenance
for drug addiction.
There is a need to do all of these at a public health
level, not a pilot program level. Pilot programs can be
wonderful demonstrations, but they will not affect epidemics.
Finally, certainly, limited resources are an important
problem in China, but the need for policy commitment is
probably a much greater problem. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Des Jarlais appears in the
appendix.]
Mr. Wolf. Thanks very much.
Bates, could you address the broader issue of civil
society? One theme throughout the roundtables we have been
having, whether it is on labor, religious freedom, almost every
issue, is the inability of the government to deal with the
economic and social stresses, with many participants talking
about civil society as one solution.
As these problems build in sector after sector, do you see
any changes in the thinking in think tanks or by government
officials that there should be some move in the direction of
encouraging civil society developments, despite the traditional
fear that this will undermine the regime?
Mr. Gill. I do not think we can detect that movement very
strongly. I suppose that depending on what sort of organization
you were talking about and what sort of issues they might be
trying to address, there might be some degree of flexibility
about that organization's ability to operate.
For example, I would presume--although this is not an area
of my own expertise--for example, that efforts to, say, develop
economic opportunity, organizations that might be lending
assistance in the way of improving economic situations for
persons, perhaps there there might be a greater degree of
flexibility because it was engaging in an overall effort which
the central authorities could support, and probably did not
have the tinge of politics attached to it that I think often
gets in the way of other civil society actors from having much
more success.
Another reason, I would suspect, is that there is an
underlying fear or understanding among persons in China, that
to organize one's self in bodies that are not related to the
Communist Party is something that can be risky and something
you want to try to avoid.
It is especially true if you are going to be doing it in
issue areas that are sensitive and problematic and known to
cause trouble for persons in the past.
So on the one hand you have the government, where the top
down way of looking at this is that there is going to be
wariness, skepticism, and caution toward groups that want to
engage in these sorts of activities, but from the bottom up
perspective, as well, there is fear, and concern, and risk, so
that the incentives are not particularly great from that side,
either.
It is also my understanding--at least this is communication
with Wan Yanhai, and I do not know beyond his statement how
true this is--that to be registered as a kind of non-
governmental organization, whatever that really means in China,
costs money, and is sometimes prohibitively costly.
That, I think, is another disincentive. Even if one could
argue that your operation was not politically sensitive,
perhaps it was too costly. That is another reason for not doing
it.
My short answer, Ira, is that I do not detect any
significant movement or appreciation for these sorts of efforts
in dealing with the whole range of problems that you have
suggested.
Mr. Wolf. Joan, on AIDS assistance, should the United
States be focusing bilaterally or are we better off working
through multilateral organizations with China?
Ms. Kaufman. Yes. I think that bilaterally is the way to
go. There are a number of bilateral agreements other countries
have with China on HIV/AIDS, particularly the British, the
Australians, AUSAID have bilateral support programs. The way to
go is a bilateral program that goes beyond medical assistance
and surveillance.
I know there is some activity planned or under way through
the CDC to improve blood supply, voluntary blood collection
practices and surveillance, and voluntary HIV testing and
counseling. But I think there is much more that can be done
that really leverages the extensive U.S. experience in helping
to develop some of the international best practices in
prevention and care, and also in the public policy response.
This is something that really did not come up in the other
recommendations.
I do feel that this is a critical contribution we can make:
explaining how government organized itself in the United States
to deal with the AIDS issue, what is the coordination between
legislation--for instance, anti-discrimination legislation--and
what is the relationship between the State and Federal system
in terms of the AIDS response.
As I said in my testimony, China is a collection of local
public policy failures. There are probably about 20 people at
the national level who are the counterparts for everybody
working on the AIDS epidemic. There is an enormous need to
train up people who know the international experience and how
to learn from the last 20 years.
I do think that there are some good civil society
organizations in China. They have a different role and it is
more of a patronage type relationship with government. Civil
society is different in China, but there has been a tremendous
growth of non-governmental organizations [NGOs] in the last 10
years, certainly the 5 years I was living there, up to 2001.
I think that there is the potential to draw some of these
emerging research organizations and new service organizations
into the AIDS battle. For instance, some recently established
groups that are working with people living with AIDS,
representing people living with AIDS.
There has been much movement in the last few years. There
is the potential to engage with civil society. Certainly, the
Ford Foundation did, and supported many of those groups.
Mr. Wolf. Thanks. This is an issue that Susan Weld will
focus on in the coming year for the Commission.
Next is John Foarde, who is deputy staff director of the
Commission.
Mr. Foarde. Thank you. First, I would like to thank all
three of you for joining us this afternoon. We are particularly
grateful to Dr. Kaufman and Dr. Des Jarlais for coming here
from far away under trying circumstances, both in personal life
and just trying to travel any more. It must have been a real
hassle. But we are delighted and grateful that you have come to
share your expertise with us.
A couple of questions. Joan you mentioned that you thought
that the Chinese Government had an opportunity to mobilize and
use some of the tools that the government and party has to
mobilize public campaigns on HIV/AIDS, similar, for example, to
that which is currently under way against Falun Gong.
Do you have a view as to why the Chinese Government is
focusing on Falun Gong when this particular crisis is more
immediate? I mean, even assuming that Falun Gong is a problem,
that this crisis is so immediate and so urgent and could be
addressed, or at least partially, by the use of these tools.
Ms. Kaufman. I guess I asked for that. I would say that it
is because the Chinese Government at the national level, and
the party in particular, does not see AIDS as a threat to them,
where they do see Falun Gong as a threat to their rule.
That is the simple answer. I think if you unpack it a
little bit, it is because I think there is really a lack of
appreciation at the national government level about what this
epidemic potentially is going to do to economic and social
development in China.
China is a very closed society. And while there is a lot
more information than there was 20 years ago, I do think it is
very predigested information. I think that there is always this
feeling that ``it is not us, that AIDS cannot affect the United
States like in sub-Saharan Africa.''
Also, because it is happening in rural China and until
recently it has affected mainly IV drug users, it is really not
about the people who are sitting in Beijing or the economically
productive, sort of mobile part of the population. I think that
is where the fallacy, the misconception, is.
Part of the role, I think, of cooperation, is the
international responsibility to help bring an awareness to the
leadership of China, which I think is happening. The
announcement this week, indicates much more high level
attention and is an important signal to the provincial
authorities who really control this issue in their
provinces.
This is going to undo a certain amount of economic and
social progress of the last 20 years and it is going to be a
social and economic disaster in some places, as it already is.
So it is about not really seeing it as a threat to
themselves, and it also speaks to the inability of, on some
issues, Beijing to make the provinces act--I think health is a
weak player in the political system, and the Health Ministry
alone, or the Chinese CDC, Academy of Preventive Medicine,
cannot make the provinces respond to the AIDS epidemic. You
have many people in Beijing who absolutely know what has to be
done, the 20 or so people.
But you do not have counterparts at the provincial level
who see it happening, and you do not have the authority among
the health folks to make it happen without the pressure from
the party and the national government, the highest levels of
leadership.
So I think it is an intricate problem, but has mostly to do
with the lack of appreciation of the real threat and the threat
to
themselves.
Mr. Foarde. Thank you.
Dr. Des Jarlais, you suggested that to address the HIV/AIDS
problem among intravenous drug users, you really had to look
regionally. Are you aware of any multilateral or bilateral
consultations, other than the one you mentioned with Vietnam,
between the Chinese Government and, say, the ASEAN countries,
either individually or multilaterally, and what is the nature
of it?
Mr. Des Jarlais. There is work in that area going on. There
is the Asian Harm Reduction Network based in Chiang Mai,
Thailand that is attempting to create more international
cooperation. But things are still at a relatively low level.
Mr. Foarde. Is it focused on IV drug use prevention or
treatment or is it focused on HIV/AIDS?
Mr. Des Jarlais. Equally on both. The feeling, again, is
that if you do not address both of those problems, you will not
be successful with either one. If you allow the burgeoning drug
epidemic to continue without providing either prevention or
treatment for drug use itself, you will always be playing
catch-up with HIV. But if you do not also provide for safer
injection and reducing HIV transmission, the catastrophe will
happen anyway.
There is one additional comment I would like to make with
respect to Joan's comments. The problem is not only with the
Chinese Government, but there is a similar problem with the
Indian Government and the Russian Government. There is a
tendency to see HIV as a problem of the socially marginalized
and of small, weak countries.
I think, to the extent that those three very large
countries in Asia and Europe could start to realize that this
will be a catastrophe for each of them, there may be potential
synergy. If you could get one of those countries to move, it
might be easier to get the other two to move.
Mr. Foarde. Thank you. Really useful.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you. Jennifer Goedke works for
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.
Ms. Goedke. Thank you all for being here as well.
My first question, I guess, would go to anyone on the
panel. If any, what are the differences in education and access
to health care between men and women in China?
Ms. Kaufman. I am happy to speak to that. I think in the
urban areas you find virtually no differentials, but in the
rural areas you really do find substantial differentials, given
the much lower social status of women and girls in the
household.
I worked on women's health issues in rural China in my Ford
position. I think you really do see much lower levels of health
seeking and much less control over very limited household
resources which are prioritized for male health seeking, and
for the health seeking for baby boys. I think it is
particularly problematic when you look at the 0-5 mortality
rate for girls versus boys.
Now, the recent evidence from Henan Province, really
reinforces that, that in these families where the husband and
the wife are sick, money is prioritized for treatment and care
for the male, the breadwinner in the family, for the most part,
usually depleting family resources.
Ms. Goedke. Also, are there many international programs or
other domestic, non-governmental--if there is such an
organization--distributing educational materials, or condoms,
or clean syringes, and if so, is there any success rate that
has been tracked with those? For anyone on the panel.
Ms. Kaufman. I am happy to answer that. There are many,
many organizations working on HIV/AIDS in China doing
education. There are international NGOs like Save the Children
U.K., Oxfam, many, many organizations that are working in pilot
projects around the country, supported by the international
donors, by the multilateral institutions, the U.N. agencies,
bilateral donors. There are many excellent pilot projects
demonstrating some of the international best practices.
But the problem is, they are pilot projects. There really
needs to be a rapid scaling up, even within the provinces where
they are operating international programs.
Mr. Des Jarlais. And just a note, some of those are against
the official policies of the central government. Syringe
exchange in Yunnan Province looks fairly effective, even though
the official policy prohibits syringe exchange. So, there are
these successful pilot projects, but going to scale is a huge
problem.
Ms. Goedke. And my final question is actually for Dr. Gill.
You said that there were some school-aged health and sex
education courses being offered now, and you recommended that
they go
national.
Where are those courses falling short right now?
Mr. Gill. We saw reports of one such program being
instituted in Shanghai.
Ms. Goedke. And that is the only one that you are aware of?
Mr. Gill. Shanghai and Guangzhou, which of course is to be
applauded. But I think, in line with what we are hearing from
our other panelists, these are among the most sophisticated,
urbanized, highly educated and affluent cities in China.
One could suspect that the populations of those cities may
well be better educated to begin with, which is welcome, of
course, but that these sorts of small programs simply cannot
compare with a more comprehensive effort.
I would just add in response to one of your previous
questions that, again, even if it were possible to establish
nationwide programs of condom usage or other important steps,
it seems to me that the resources would still be lacking in
China, at least as it presently stands, to do a very adequate
job of gauging the success or failure of them.
One real problem with the numbers, as I mentioned, is that
the focus is entirely on high-risk groups at the moment. My
guess--I do not know if this is true--is that the Chinese
figure for 70 percent of HIV-positive persons are HIV drug
users, my guess is that that figure comes strictly from the
data that has been generated at the 100 or so sentinel sites
inside China where they are testing IV drug users, or sex
workers, or truck drivers. In other words, the data is skewed
precisely because of who they are testing.
So until we are able to introduce, or others are able to
help China introduce, more accurate epidemiological assessments
and other ways of surveilling and monitoring the implementation
of programs, then we cannot know how successful they can
ultimately be.
Ms. Goedke. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thanks.
Next is Holly Vineyard, who works for Under Secretary of
Commerce Grant Aldonas.
Ms. Vineyard. Thank you for joining us today.
Dr. Kaufman, you were a little rushed at the end, so I
would like to give you a little more time to expand on your
final point in which you discuss compulsory licensing.
Some of the initial press reports on this have not been
entirely clear. Some have hinted that China may be in violation
of its WTO [World Trade Organization] commitments.
But our initial read is that China's intentions do seem
consistent with TRIPS and the Doha declaration on the TRIPS
agreement on public health. So, if you could expand a little.
Ms. Kaufman. Yes. I think that is precisely the spirit of
the announcement that the government, I think, is facing.
In fact, I was in a lunch with a very senior health
official last week who was saying to me, we have calculated the
cost of treating all the HIV people in China, and it is this
number. It was so beyond the scale of possibility within the
currently available budgets, that I was not surprised to see
this statement a week later.
I do feel that I think the issue is that they would like to
give the drug companies every opportunity to bring the price
down to an affordable level. Even the currently available
treatments are
something like 10 or 20 times the per capita income of most
rural farmers who need it.
There is absolutely no way that people can pay for anti-
retroviral therapy in China. I believe that, even if it is
brought down to $300 a year, it is still about equal to per
capita income for most rural farmers.
But it is much closer to a range that is affordable of the
public health system to be able to think about selectively
deploying some kind of co-payment system. There has to be an
enormous amount of subsidization of treatment in China.
Bringing the price down and making the drugs available is
the first step. I was very pleased to see some move in that
direction, because even as recently as a year ago, the
discussion on treatment for AIDS-infected people was really
that we cannot afford to do that. That is not an option we
have.
I am glad to see that it is part of the discussion at this
point and there is planning and thinking, including submission
to the Global AIDS Fund that will include treatment for people
in Henan.
I believe it is within the spirit of the WTO, and it has
been carefully considered. I think there have been some trial
balloons over the last 6 months to really see how the
international community responded.
Ms. Vineyard. Thank you.
Dr. Des Jarlais, I was interested in your characterization
of China's border as being ``porous.'' I was hoping you could
expand on that with some examples.
Mr. Des Jarlais. Yes. In this project across the border of
China and Vietnam, you just walk across. There is one point
where you can pay a 1 yuan fee if you want. There was another
place where there was just a small ditch about a foot wide that
you stepped over. In others, it was just a path.
This is in sort of the hill country of Southeast Asia, with
a lot of hill tribes that live across the borders. On market
day in the Chinese town, the Vietnamese villagers walk over to
do their
marketing.
There are official border crossings where you see large
trucks lined up and it takes them a day or so to get past, but
for the ordinary people that live in the area, there is
essentially no border. That is true in a lot of places in
Southeast Asia, where the borders are not necessarily even
marked.
Ms. Vineyard. Thank you.
Mr. Des Jarlais. Yes. It is somewhat surprising. I wish I
had my PowerPoint slides with me, but I took a picture of that
foot-wide ditch that constitutes the border in one place.
Ms. Vineyard. That is interesting. Thank you.
Mr. Gill. Ira, may I make one response to Ms. Vineyard's
question regarding anti-retrovirals in China? I think we need
to be very cautious on this issue. Not only will it be
expensive to provide the necessary treatment, just the tablets
themselves.
Then you have to add on distribution, logistics, training
of barefoot doctors. I am not kidding. Training of barefoot
doctors in villages in China as to the proper dosage, regimen,
oversight, and monitoring. This is a huge amount of money, well
beyond even if it is $300 per annual dosage. The cost goes well
beyond the basic cost of what the medicines will be.
If you do not see it that way, you are only going to fuel
the spread of this disease in China by improper dosing,
improper regiments, improper usages of the anti-retrovirals. I
think today in China the money will be much more wisely spent
on prevention, awareness, education so you do not get the
disease in the first place.
If we can alleviate the suffering of the people who have
contracted the disease, and by all means we certainly should, I
think we have to recognize that in China's case of a resource-
constrained environment, I think they may have to take other
choices and put their money behind awareness and prevention.
Ms. Vineyard. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Susan Weld is the general counsel for the
Commission.
Ms. Weld. Thank you all for coming, and thank you, Don. I
am sorry about your ID. That kind of thing happens to me all
the time.
I wanted to ask you, first, about the border in Central
Asia. Is that a significant place where IV drug use and HIV
have come together, and is that a growing problem? The
governments on the other side there are not very organized,
from my impression. I do not know whether there could be
cooperation across that border.
Mr. Des Jarlais. Unfortunately, there is tremendous
cooperation in terms of shipping drugs across those borders.
There is molecular epidemiology showing the spread of HIV among
drug users across those borders.
Getting government cooperation for HIV prevention, I think,
would be a challenge, and certainly was a challenge for us in
Vietnam, in China. It took us 5 years to get that project
going. I want to acknowledge Joan's help, and the Ford
Foundation, in doing it.
However, I think that it is very, very important to try to
set examples of successful international cooperation and the
Central Asian republics are another place where cooperation
really is going to be needed, because the virus is clearly
spreading across the international borders there.
Ms. Weld. Thank you.
Now, Bates, I have a question about leadership. When I talk
to people from U.N. AIDS, they say for the countries which have
been successful, one of the factors of success has been some
figure at the national level that has taken possession of the
issue and has decided to stand up and say, this is a hugely
important issue for our country, we are going to go forward and
really emphasize it. Is there anybody in the leadership in
China that you can see taking that kind of a role, either now
or after the transition?
Mr. Gill. No. No one is readily identifiable to us at this
point. There may well be such a figure, although I think that
would run somewhat contrary to the way things normally work in
the Chinese political system as it is presently constituted, to
have a kind of risk taker, a person that is willing to stick
their neck out, especially on a sensitive issue like this.
You do not find many people like that in China. I think the
current situation of socioeconomic transition in China today
only makes risk taking all the more risky and unlikely.
The one figure, if I understand it correctly, who people
would most closely identify as a kind of ``leader'' on this
issue, is Vice Premier Li Lanqing, who is also on the standing
committee of the
Politburo.
He, I think, is about 70. He is not a fourth-generation
leader. He may survive the succession. Some people speculate
that, because of his relative experience and ``relative
youth,'' in his early 70s, he may be retained either as a vice
premier, or that he might continue with his seat in the
Politburo.
If there was one person you wanted to point to, it would be
him, because apparently he is leading what amounts to a kind of
largely ceremonial, inter-agency leading small group effort
that is trying to coordinate the various agencies in the
Chinese Government to address this problem.
But he is not high profile. He has got a lot of other
portfolios that he is dealing with. So, I do not see him
necessarily emerging as the kind of figure that you suggest.
I am very impressed with Health Minister Zhang. I think he
has shown some leadership and boldness in going public last
year. But I am not so sure it was just him alone who had a
vision, who saw, as an individual, that he could take charge
and move this issue forward. He may well have been prompted
from lots of other forces that he had to take the step and make
this a much more public issue.
So I do not see anyone in particular. There may be other
views on that. But it is not consistent with the way things get
done in China. What it requires, is Hu Jintao to say, this is
important and we are going to deal with it, if he becomes the
paramount leader, as we suspect he will.
Unfortunately, I think, much like, say, in the problem of
corruption in China, it is going to be ignored at the upper
reaches of the government for the reasons that Joan suggested,
because it is not seen as a threat yet, but also because it
reflects poorly upon the party for all the mistakes that have
been made by the government in letting the HIV/AIDS problem get
as out of hand as it has.
So that is going to limit any leader from wanting to get
their head chopped off for taking a prominent role, but I think
it is going to have to be done at that high level.
Unfortunately, it is going to take vice mayor of Guangdong
to come down with this disease, or something like that,
unfortunately, before you can expect, I think, a higher level
of mobilization above the Health Ministry. It has to happen
above the Health Ministry.
Ms. Kaufman. Could I add something to that? I would just
say that Li Lanqing has been the most senior government
official in charge of the AIDS epidemic, actually the State
counselor responsible for health issues within the government,
over the last 4 or 5 years and has not risen to the occasion in
that way.
I think it is too politically sensitive and I doubt he
would do it in the future. I think the task will fall upon
somebody else after the transition. But I am more hopeful,
because I think public opinion is really shifting dramatically,
and that the government attitude at the national level has
shifted a lot.
I do believe that someone will rise to the occasion within
the next year and take a leadership role on the AIDS response.
I think there are many signals pointing in that direction,
actually. At least, I am hopeful. I am an optimist.
Mr. Wolf. Thanks. I do not have any other questions. Does
anyone? John.
Mr. Foarde. I would like to ask, probably Bates and Joan,
about regional variation in infection rates. Are the rates, as
far as we know it judging from the data that is available, more
in eastern China, western, northern, southern? Are there
certain pockets? You talked about 11 provinces earlier. Are
those just the ones we know about or do we have a good sense of
whether there are regional variations?
Ms. Kaufman. Would you like me to go first?
Mr. Foarde. Sure.
Ms. Kaufman. Well, certainly if you look at the
surveillance system data, which is the basis for--Bates was
right. The 70 percent drug user figure is from the national
surveillance data, which is in 110 surveillance points, I
think, around China, mostly among high-risk groups.
If you use that as the indicator, you have got the most
cases in Yunnan Province, which is where the epidemic started,
on the Burmese border, and very high prevalence also in
Xinjiang Province, which is bordering on Central Asia.
You also have then the other big epidemic in Henan, which
has been less documented by the surveillance system data.
Actually what you do have, is a border area, southwestern and
western border area, epidemic.
For central China, we just do not know the extent of the
blood-infected people in central China. Certainly, we are
getting an idea about what is happening in Henan, but we do not
know about these other provinces that have also used these same
blood collection practices, where they did not have somebody
break the story and have a lot of attention focused on it.
I think you do have probably nine or so other provinces
where you have had documented cases in some counties and
villages. So I think you are going to find some central China
concentration beyond Henan, plus these western boundary areas.
You have not really seen it on the northern border. In the
south, it is starting in places like Shenzhen and Guangdong,
where you have had high rates of syphilis, which is especially
effective as a co-transmitter of HIV.
So, I think it is mostly in the southwest. That is what is
known. The center, in places like Henan and other places, will
come out. Then you will also see the sexual transmission really
unfold, I believe, in the south around Guangdong and Shenzhen.
That is my best estimate.
Mr. Gill. I would concur with everything that Joan has
said, but would only just add a couple of caveats, perhaps.
As far as I know, HIV has been identified in all 31
provinces and municipalities of China, so it is everywhere. I
guess it is a question of, how intensive has it become in
certain areas.
Now, just take this statistic, for an example. Of the 100
to 110 sentinel sites which are being officially operated by
the Chinese Ministry of Health, something like 44 of them are
in Yunnan Province. So if we are trying to answer your question
by looking at the official data as generated by the sentinel
sites, you get a completely skewed understanding.
You are going to see all kinds of different HIV infection
happening in Yunnan, because there they are dealing with
sexually transmitted disease clinics, they are testing detained
IV drug users, and others. So, you might get three or four
different risk groups being looked at because there are so many
sentinel sites.
Up in Urumqi, there is one antenatal test site. So there,
the numbers are off the charts for how high mother-to-child
transmission of HIV is. But that is not a very accurate way of
understanding it.
I think there really is no answer--no good answer--to your
question. I think Joan has laid it out right, that we have a
sense, a speculative sort of understanding of where we think
the worst of it is, but I do not think we really, really know.
Mr. Foarde. That, itself, is worth knowing.
A question for Don Des Jarlais, please. What is your
assessment of the State of Chinese science on HIV/AIDS, and
particularly with respect to transmission from IV drug users?
How much money, how many resources are going into training,
labs, surveillance, etc., and how extensive has their own
research been?
Mr. Des Jarlais. There has been a moderate amount of
research for 10, almost 15 years now, particularly focused on
Yunnan and the drug users. Their labs are fully sophisticated.
In our projects, we are using domestic labs for the HIV
testing. They are sophisticated in terms of human rights,
research protection, institutional review board, ethical
review, not uniformly throughout the country, certainly, but
they have the basic understanding of how to conduct research
and the facilities for doing it in many places.
The National Institutes of Health has been awarding
considerably more money over the last year. The CDC is going in
with some money. So, while there is always a need for capacity
development and infrastructure development, particularly in
many of the provinces where work has been done, there is a
good, solid foundation there to work with.
Mr. Wolf. Susan.
Ms. Weld. Yes. Sure. I wanted to ask something about the
local governments. Now, I have heard about the leadership. It
seems that Dr. Gill does not think that there will be national-
level, conspicuous leadership, which leaves it to be done at
the local level. I wonder where the money will come from for
that.
Will it just be funded the same way that the health care
institutions are currently funded or not funded at the local
level, or will there be extra money being poured down from the
central government to the local level? How will that funding go
to do the preventive education?
Mr. Gill. Well, I am just skeptical that there will be a
national leader. I am not saying there will not be on this
issue. I think we should expect, over the coming several years,
that the central government allocation aimed at addressing the
HIV/AIDS challenge in China will certainly increase.
There has been a dramatic increase in just the past year,
and hopefully we can expect those sorts of increases to
continue.
So I think, again, the Ministry of Health understands what
needs to be done. I think, if given the resources, they could
probably do a relatively good job of it, as long as they are
sort of given the political clout from above that is necessary
so that, if and when they do need to knock heads among other
bureaucratic actors to see that effective policies are
implemented and resource allocations reach the places they are
supposed to, then it will. But that is a big if.
So in the interim, while there may be increased amounts of
funding--and we are not talking about a lot of money, by the
way. I think the most recent budgetary allocation in China for
dealing with HIV/AIDS-related prevention and awareness and
blood clean-up programs is only the equivalent of about $15
million. Tommy Thompson signed a check to China for $15 million
over 5 years, probably without even batting an eye.
So it is not a lot of money, given the extent of the
problem. So, even if that is doubled or tripled, it is hard to
know. It will have some impact, certainly, but it is hard to
know how effective it can be.
You have learned in your other hearings of the difficulty
that the central authorities have in exercising authority and
property implementing policy directives at provincial and local
levels, and I do not think that this particular issue is going
to be any different.
So much of the burden, I think, will have to be somehow
picked up at the local level, both in terms of sort of
political awareness issues, but also in terms of just monetary
and financial resources being devoted to treatment and care,
and awareness and education programs. There is not a lot of
resources at the local and provincial levels, either. Some,
better than others, of course.
But in some of the cases that we are talking about, where
we believe the problem is especially acute, these are not
wealthy provinces, but are rather inland, detached from the
economic vibrancy of the eastern coast.
So, again, I hate to be pessimistic about this, but I just
do not think there is either the political will or the
financial resources available to tackling the problem either at
the central or the local levels yet.
Ms. Weld. I have heard some of the people I have talked to
say--and this is for anybody who wants to answer--that it is
possible to devise best practices in legislation, local,
provincial, and sub-provincial legislation that would address
some of the problems of HIV/AIDS.
Anybody who wants to speak on this, are there models for
this kind of effort in China? Is this something that the United
States, either at the Federal, State, or local level, could
perhaps help out with?
Ms. Kaufman. I am happy to address that. I do not think
there are models in China that I know of, of local public
policy, multi-sectoral coordination on an issue in a way that
is required for responding to the AIDS epidemic.
But I do certainly think that within the United States
there are models at local government, coordinating the laws
protecting the rights of HIV-infected people, with programs on
voluntary testing and counseling, ensuring access, getting
social services
involved.
I think the multi-sectoral model is the model that has been
shown to be the absolute requirement for dealing with AIDS at
the local level, not just a health response. I do think we have
enormous experience in this country on that.
I was happy to see Bates had in his recommendations setting
up kind of a White House Office on AIDS at the State Council
level in the Office of the President in China.
I think these types of models of how we have organized
ourselves in this country over many years after our own fits
and starts 20 years ago, are highly useful for China to really
look at, what do we do, how do we coordinate our agencies, what
is the role of Federal and local, and how do you bring all of
it together at the local level in the right way. It is not just
a health issue, actually, as I think we all know.
Ms. Weld. Thanks a lot.
Mr. Des Jarlais. Just on a slight note of optimism, Joan
mentioned looking at what we are doing in this country. We have
had confusion, tension, and political conflict around AIDS for
20-some years already, but we have still done a reasonable
amount of effective prevention at the local level. So, I think
if we used the United States model of confusion, conflict, and
antagonism, we can be somewhat more optimistic for China.
Mr. Wolf. This has been a useful session for us.
Again, thank you very much. We appreciate your coming and
spending time with us all today.
[Whereupon, at 4 p.m., the roundtable was concluded.]
A P P E N D I X
=======================================================================
Prepared Statements
----------
Prepared Statement of Joan Kaufman
september 9, 2002
1. Official Estimates:
1 million HIV infected as of September 2002
UNAIDS Estimates: 1.2 Million infected now, 20 million
by 2010
2. Key Sub groups
Intravenous Drug Users (officially 70 percent of
cases)
Paid Blood Donors and their families (the innocent
victims who are mobi-
lizing the public response) (probably most of cases)
Female Commercial Sex Workers
Homosexual Men
3. Drug Users
Increasing numbers
High relapse rates/no methadone
Needle sharing and high HIV infection rates
Transmission to sexual partners
Mixing between IVDU and Sex Workers (drug use by sex
workers)
4. Paid Blood Donors
Acquired during the 1990s through paid blood donations
by poor farmers
Henan best known but at least 9 other provinces
Widespread practice: e.g. in Henan over 200 sites and
many people sold blood
repeatedly over years for about $5 a bag as income supplement
Paid blood donations prohibited in 1998 but continued
in some places
Affected villages: over 60 percent of adult population
infected in some Henan
villages
Sexual/vertical transmission to spouses/offspring
Little prevention/public education being done to
prevent further spread
Virtually no treatment/care available (although
pending Global Fund applica-
tion is for care/support in Henan and for Voluntary Testing
and Counseling-- gateway to other services)
Major orphan problem emerging
5. Sex Workers
Widespread prostitution
High rates of STDs
HIV rates among sex workers increasing (Guangxi 11
percent, Yunnan 5
percent)
Low condom use
Clients: rural economic migrants and middle class men
6. Homosexual Men
Highly stigmatized and hidden, most married
\1/3\ of hospitalized AIDS patients in 2000 in Beijing
Few channels for information and little prevention
7. Vulnerable Groups
Youth:
Little sex education and limited AIDS knowledge
Changing sexual attitudes and behaviors
Low self perception of risk and low condom use
Rural Women
Returning migrant husbands
High rates of reproductive tract infections
8. Potential Impacts
Compromise economic progress of last 20 years
Huge orphan issue in poor rural areas
Families falling into poverty to pay for treatment
Rural Protests by innocent victims
9. Negative Constraints
No highest level policy leadership yet
Local inaction (collection of local public policy
failures)
Fiscal devolution: health system and budgets strained
in poor areas
High levels of discrimination/fear based laws to
protect public
Limited civil society organizations
Constraints on media coverage and information
Complicity by local governments and denial
10. Positive Potentials
Recent admission of the severity of the problem and
asking for help
Existing (albeit weakened) health infrastructure
Existing IEC/public education infrastructure (Family
Planning IEC/Party
Organs)
Ability to mobilize party/government around a national
action agenda
Access to treatment and care beginning: recently
announced plans to manu-
facture AIDS anti-retroviral drugs if drug companies don't
offer reasonable
price
______
Prepared Statement of Bates Gill
september 9, 2002
China's HIV/AIDS Crisis: Implications for Human Rights, the Rule of Law
and U.S.-China Relations
a looming catastrophe
HIV/AIDS looms as a major humanitarian catastrophe for both urban
and rural Chinese, and possibly for citizens in the orbit of ``Greater
China,'' such as in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Chinese government needs
to act quickly and effectively to limit HIV/AIDS' impact on society,
minimize economic damage, and relieve strain on an already
overburdened, and increasingly ineffective healthcare system. However,
while HIV/AIDS has been identified in China since the mid-1980s, the
official response has until recently been slow at best and deceitful at
worst. While the Chinese government--particularly its health-related
agencies--has launched a more
serious public campaign over the past year to address the country's
HIV/AIDS problem, it is still difficult to fully assess how well the
Chinese government will respond in terms of political attention,
financial resources, dedication of expertise, outreach to foreign
assistance, and propagation of information and awareness campaigns.
Moreover, of particular interest to the Commission, protecting the
rights and dignity of persons afflicted with HIV/AIDS (and their
supporters) remains problematic, as the recent case of Wan Yanhai
demonstrates. Unfortunately, early indications on the political,
financial, medical, educational, and humanitarian fronts are not
promising, and there is much more the Chinese government and interested
outsiders will need to do, not only to combat a potentially disastrous
health crisis, but to do so in a way that meets international
humanitarian and legal standards.
To review some of these questions, this testimony proceeds in three
principal sections. The first section will touch briefly on what we
know about the Chinese HIV/AIDS problem, why that information is
sketchy, and present some of the political, social, and economic
factors which exacerbate the HIV/AIDS dilemma in China. The next
section will focus on the implications of China's HIV/AIDS crisis for
issues of human rights, rule of law, discrimination, and civil society
activism. A third and concluding section details what is being done by
China and by the United States to address the Chinese HIV/AIDS
challenge, and includes additional policy recommendations for the
Commission to consider.
what we know and don't know (and why)
China's socioeconomic opening, reform, and liberalization--both its
good sides and bad--helped enable HIV/AIDS to enter the mainstream
population by the mid- to late 1990s. Relaxed residency restrictions
and a large ``floating population'' of itinerant labor, liberalized
social attitudes towards sex, a burgeoning sex industry, increased drug
abuse, and a dilapidated and dangerous healthcare system all have a
hand in fueling the spread of HIV/AIDS in China. On the other hand,
``traditional'' attitudes--such as a preference for male children,
reemergence of concubinage, avoidance of sexual subjects, and a lack of
awareness sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)--have also played their
part.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ An overview of China's HIV/AIDS challenge is offered in Bates
Gill, Jennifer Chang, and Sarah Palmer, ``China's HIV Crisis,'' Foreign
Affairs, March/April 2002. Portions of this testimony draw from this
article.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, dismissed in the past by Chinese officialdom as a
``Western'' problem, the spread of HIV/AIDS has only recently gained
serious attention from Beijing. China now faces a major epidemic and,
even under the best of circumstances, it is difficult to be optimistic.
It was only a year ago, in June 2001, when the Chinese Minister of
Health, Zhang Wenkang, announced that China had as many as 600,000
cases of HIV/AIDS. Since then, the official Chinese estimate reached
850,000 in early 2002, and that figure was revised upward to 1 million
in September 2002, an increase of 67 percent over 2001 figures. In
fact, Beijing really does not know the true number of HIV/AIDS cases in
China, and these numbers are probably significant underestimates.
In certain parts of China the problem is already particularly
acute. Along China's southern borders with the opium-growing regions of
Burma, Thailand, and Laos, widespread intravenous (IV) drug use was an
early source of HIV infection. Drug use--and with it the spread of
HIV--has also extended along drug trafficking routes into China's
northwestern province of Xinjiang. The central province of Henan,
China's most populous, has apparently been hit hardest. According to
some experts in international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as
many as 1.2 million people in Henan are HIV-positive, largely owing to
an unsafe blood collection system. Chinese and Western news media
reports have focused in particular on ``AIDS villages'' in Henan where
up to 80 percent of inhabitants have contracted the virus, and more
than 60 percent already suffer from AIDS.
Even accepting Chinese estimates of 1 million persons with HIV/AIDS
and a relatively modest annual growth rate of 25 percent, China will
have nearly 6 million cases of HIV/AIDS by 2010, easily placing it
among the most heavily infected countries in the world in the next 5 to
8 years. Even Health Minister Zhang Wenkang has acknowledged that the
number could rise to 10 million by 2010 if the infection rate increases
significantly. (By comparison, in the United States, where the disease
was detected 20 years ago, there are today an estimated 900,000 people
living with HIV/AIDS, with an additional 40,000 new cases reported each
year; South Africa, currently the country with the largest HIV/AIDS
population, has about 5.3 million person living with the disease.)
Questionable Statistics
However, the official Chinese figures are probably ``low
estimates'' at best, and need to be treated with caution. The report
from the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), HIV/AIDS:
China's Titanic Peril aptly opened with the statement: ``Heaps of
numbers and lots of guesses--Yet the whole story remains elusive.'' The
UNAIDS report on China--conducted in cooperation with Chinese
agencies--repeated the previous official figure of 850,000 for 2002,
but also states the number may be as high as 1.2 million. As noted
above, other independent groups argue this number is too low as there
may be over a million HIV-infected individuals in Henan province alone.
Why is there such a wide discrepancy between the Chinese
government's statistics and other organizations' estimates? It comes
down to both practical and political reasons. First and foremost, China
simply does not have the resources available to conduct accurate
sampling and estimates for HIV prevalence. China has about two dozen
persons working at the central government level focusing on this
relatively new and growing epidemic (compare that with several hundred
persons at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who work
on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States).
Resources in the localities are spread even thinner in China. For
example, according to UNAIDS and the WHO, in 2002 China had only 127
sentinel sites in operation, targeting four population groups (sexually
transmitted infection [STI] clinic attendees, 74 sites; female sex
workers, 23 sites; IV drug users, 26 sites; and pregnant women, 4
sites). While this represents almost twice the number sites that were
operational in 1997, it is insufficient to effectively monitor a
population the size of China's.
Moreover, the dominant focus of these sites on high-risk groups
(sex workers, IV drug users, STI patients) tends to skew figures by
potentially ignoring infection rates within the general population. An
additional risk of only monitoring high-risk groups is the mistaken
notion that they are the ``cause'' of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, leading
only to greater discrimination, marginalization, and public calls for
isolation. Of the 100 surveillance sites reporting in 2000, only a
handful monitored pregnant women and long-distance truck drivers. The
great majority of sites monitored IV drug users, prostitutes and
sexually transmitted disease clinics. On the other hand, Yunnan
province, which has an extremely high IV drug use rate, only hosts
surveillance sites to monitor sexually transmitted diseases and
prostitutes. As such, the relatively small sampling focusing largely on
high-risk groups tends to divert attention away from the true extent of
the problem, especially as it may affect more ``mainstream'' parts of
society.
The so-called ``floating population'' or ``liudong renkou''
provides a good example of the monitoring problem. This group of
itinerant workers--estimated at between 100 and 120 million persons--
have left their official residences, typically in the poorer
countryside, to seek gainful employment in urban areas. Leaving
official educational, housing, and health care assistance behind, these
workers migrate to the least desirable jobs and live a semi-
clandestine, marginalized existence. The vast majority of the floating
population is in the most sexually active period of their lives--some
80 percent are aged between 15 and 45, and half are between 20 and 30.
According to a recent study, there are more women than men among the
young (15-19 years old) in the floating population; among all females
in the floating population, some 55 percent are in the ``entertainment/
service'' industry, which for some may include some commercial sex work
at restaurants, tea houses, karaoke bars, and the like.\2\ The
``floating population'' likely represents a major new source of HIV
infection in the coming years, but their situation on the fringes of
society renders HIV/AIDS education, awareness, monitoring and treatment
practically impossible to provide.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ S. S. Liao, et al., Rapidly changing sex industry in rural
communities of Hainan and Guangxi, China: implications for HIV/STD
interventions, presented at the XIV International AIDS Conference,
Barcelona, Spain, July 7-12, 2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is also a political element that distorts official HIV/AIDS
statistics. The Chinese government officially denied its HIV/AIDS
problem for years, and discouraged accurate monitoring and independent
surveillance. The Chinese government has also considered the number of
HIV infected people in China to be a politically charged topic, with a
great deal of national ``face'' riding on the official statistics. In
areas with high infection rates, local officials have attempted to
cover-up independent reporting. This is due partly to the officials'
concerns about their career prospects, as well as the stigma
potentially attached to their region, which could stymie investment and
tourism. Some observers have pointed out that local officials in Henan
province financially benefited from blood collection centers that were
responsible for extensive HIV infection amongst poor donors. Public
disclosures of official corruption and ineptitude in handling the Henan
blood collection scandal also makes local officials all the more
opposed to revealing the true extent of the problem. To some extent,
the central government has taken advantage of local officials'
reticence to deflect blame and responsibility for the national HIV/AIDS
crisis. But in the end such attitudes only distort accurate reporting
and complicate effective responses.
Tainted blood and ``AIDS villages''
Owing to the efforts of certain courageous Chinese activists and
persistent reporting by Chinese and Western journalists, a good deal is
known about the most
insidious HIV/AIDS-related development in China to date: the corruption
of its voluntarily donated blood supply and the subsequent appearance
of ``AIDS villages.'' In the early 1990s, blood collection centers
opened in Henan province, encouraging peasants to donate blood and
blood plasma for fees. Unsanitary collection and reinjection methods
resulted in donors being infected at a rate as high as 65 percent in
many instances.\3\ Chinese and Western media reports have focused in
particular on ``AIDS villages'' in Henan--such as Wenlou--where up to
80 percent of inhabitants have contracted HIV, and more than 60 percent
already suffer from the symptoms of AIDS. The official Gongren Ribao
[Workers' Daily] newspaper reported in January 2002 that 80 percent of
the inhabitants of Henan's Houyang village tested positive for HIV, 400
people had developed AIDS and 150 had died in the 12 months from
November 2000.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Wan Yanhai, ``Henan AIDS Prevalence and Effect,'' self
published in Chinese, March 8, 2002, and made available to Freeman
Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies,
Washington, D.C. See also: Elisabeth Rosenthal, ``Spread of AIDS in
Rural China Ignites Protests,'' New York Times, December 11, 2001;
Leslie Chang, ``AIDS Epidemic Spreads Unchecked Through Another Chinese
Province,'' Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2001.
\4\ ``China--AIDS Some 80 Pct of Chinese Town's Population Tests
Positive for HIV,'' Financial Times, January 5, 2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the ``AIDS Villages'' in Henan are a well-documented
humanitarian tragedy, they have remained relatively isolated incidents
in the medical and political sense. Unfortunately, because knowledge of
these incidents is not widespread amongst the Chinese peasantry, the
work of unregulated ``blood heads'' continues in China's vast
hinterland in such provinces as Sichuan, Shanxi, Hubei, Hebei, and
Gansu, and elsewhere in spite of official prohibitions against such
illicit blood collection schemes. Given China's chronically low blood
supply, the law of supply and demand, and the inability (or complicity)
of officials to deal with the problem, such hazardous practices will
certainly continue.
As a result, the Chinese blood supply is tainted with the HIV
virus, and infections from transfusions have appeared throughout the
country. In 2001, Deputy Health Minister Yin Dagui presented the media
with figures revealing that one in every 2,500 blood transfusions
transmitted HIV in the worst hit areas.\5\ China's official Action Plan
for Reducing and Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS (2001-2005) aims to
reduce the national infection rate from transfusions to 1 in 10,000 in
hot spots, and 1 in 100,000 nationally.\6\ (A 1996 study in the United
States determined that the rate of infection from transfusions in this
country is 1 in 493,000--and was likely to improve between 27 and 72
percent in the near future as new and better screening tests become
available.)\7\ Blood transfusion recipients in China will clearly be at
risk of contracting HIV for the foreseeable future, but may not be
recognized within official statistics for years to come. As one senior
physician in China put it, ``A lot of people who received blood have
not fallen sick yet.'' \8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ ``China's Bleak AIDS Figures Underestimate Accelerating
Epidemic: Not Wanting to be Known as an ``AIDS Area,'' Local Officials
are Suppressing Data, Experts Say,'' Daily Telegraph, August 21, 2001.
\6\ State Council Office Document 2001-40, Action Plan for Reducing
and Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS (2001-2005) (in Chinese).
\7\ George B. Schreiber, D.Sc., Michael P. Busch, M.D., Ph.D.,
Steven H. Kleinman, M.D., James J. Korelitz, Ph.D., for The Retrovirus
Epidemiology Donor Study, ``The Risk of Transfusion-Transmitted Viral
Infections,'' New England Journal of Medicine, June 1996, p. 1685-90.
\8\ Daily Telegraph, Aug 21, 2001, p. 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problems in the healthcare and social welfare system
HIV/AIDS poses a major strain on the Chinese state-supported
healthcare system which is overburdened in urban areas, and almost non-
existent in most rural areas. Economic pressures have forced the state
to cut back on healthcare, and private providers have not materialized
to take the government's place. When private providers are available,
the cost for their services is often prohibitive, certainly for most
persons living in the countryside. Basic health services are simply not
available to a large portion of the population. Services which do exist
are normally stretched beyond safe limits. Cost-cutting and unsound
medical practices result, which can further fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS
infection. For example, illegally re-used syringes are commonplace in
hospitals, especially .in the interior. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing
reported in June 2000 that ``large volumes of low quality, substandard
and
dangerous `illegal' hypodermic syringes and blood transfusion equipment
are now flooding the Chinese market. One million substandard syringes
are shipped daily from one region of Zhejiang province alone . . .''
\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ See the U.S. Embassy Beijing Report, PRC AIDS: Mid 2002
Overview, From the U.S.
Embassy Beijing website, accessed at: http://www.usembassy-
china.org.cn/sandt/aidsoverview2000.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medicines to suppress HIV and address the symptoms and
complications of HIV/AIDS are expensive and hard to come by in China.
Herbal medicines are widely used in the countryside to combat the
symptoms of AIDS, but are generally useless in retarding the growth of
the virus. A local pharmaceutical company in China has announced that
they have received permission to begin distributing a generic version
of AZT in China beginning in September, which is expected to cost about
one-tenth the U.S. price. Merck had previously been negotiating with
the Chinese government to supply discounted AZT, but no public
announcements have been made announcing the success of those talks. But
it is well-known that a single drug such as AZT is most useful only
against certain strains of HIV, and that ultimately a mixture or ``drug
cocktail'' of two or more drug compounds are ultimately more effective
and help counter the emergence of resistant strains of HIV. The China
Northeast Pharmaceutical Company, which is producing the knock-off AZT,
has also expressed interest in producing other anti-HIV drugs used in
``cocktails'' to help suppress HIV.
Even if medical treatment, such as ``drug cocktails,'' were
available, affordable, and clinically effective, the medical profession
and afflicted patients in China would need to be trained in proper
dosing and regimen monitoring; poor practices in this regard only
result in the emergence of new, drug-resistant strains of HIV (a
serious problem in Western countries), only further complicating the
HIV problem in China when they are transmitted back into the
population. No effective vaccine exists for therapeutic treatment for
or protection from HIV infection. One Beijing doctor at a hospital that
specializes in HIV/AIDS treatment said, ``In the countryside many
doctors don't know how to treat HIV. . . . We know how. But patients
can't afford the medicines, and the supply is extremely limited. So
even if we want to treat, we often can't.'' \10\ At best, doctors in
China are left with treating the symptoms of HIV/AIDS, but are largely
helpless in stemming the fatal progression of the disease in their
patients.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Elisabeth Rosenthal, ``AIDS Patients in China Lack Effective
Treatment,'' New York Times, November 12, 2001.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
One social welfare issue that has gained very little attention thus
far is the question of HIV/AIDS orphans. This problem seems most acute
at the moment in the ``AIDS Villages'' of Henan, some of which are
reported to have hundreds of orphans. UNAIDS estimated in 2002 that
there are some 76,000 children under the age of 15 ``who have lost
their mother or father or both parents to AIDS.'' \11\ Noted Chinese
HIV/AIDS activist Wan Yanhai, founder of the ``AIDS Action Project'' in
Beijing, reported in June 2002 that in the Henan village of Houyang,
with a total population of 3,806 people, there were 108 orphans, 26 of
whom were HIV positive.\12\ Orphans and HIV-positive children, often
cannot even turn to relatives in their villages because their aunts and
uncles are also infected or dead, or owing to their isolation and
stigmatization by fellow villagers. This is a problem that will
continue to grow, placing a further burden on China's healthcare and
social welfare system, especially in the countryside.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ ``UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheet 2002 Update,'' p. 2.
Accessed at: http://www.unaids.org/hivaidsinfo/statistics/fact--sheets/
pdfs/China--en.pdf
\12\ Wan Yanhai, AIDS Action Project, ``Henan Province, Shangcai
County, Houyang Village Orphan Record,'' self published in Chinese, and
made available to Freeman Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic
and International Studies, Washington, DC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changing demographic picture affects HIV/AIDS
Changing demographic factors in China also fuel the spread of the
disease. As mentioned above, the floating population presents a
particular concern. This group of primarily young adults from the
countryside is largely uneducated, at their sexual prime, and far from
the restricting social mores of their home villages. While these
migrants generally do not interact socially with urbanites, they do
return home to their families at least once per year, and can
potentially infect spouses and/or other sexual partners, further
spreading the deadly virus.
Migrants also account for a large percentage of sex workers. The
incidence of IV drug use among construction workers is on the rise as
well, due in part to their dislocation and despair brought on by
economic hardships. HIV rates amongst them are impossible to track,
since they live outside of official government oversight. Given that
many of the workers are illiterate, passive prevention methods such as
posters are ineffective. Workers frequently speak non-Mandarin
dialects, and are therefore harder to reach by health care workers.
One of the most disquieting demographic trends in China is the
growing divide between the number of males and females born each year.
The rapid socioeconomic changes of the 1980s and 1990s, combined with
the one-child policy, have tended to reinforce the traditional
preference for male heirs who carry on the family name, are expected to
take care of aging parents, and tend to bring in more income. Now that
ultrasound technology allows parents to identify the gender of their
child before birth, sex-selective abortions, although illegal, are
further altering the makeup of Chinese society. The natural ratio of
males to females born worldwide each year is about 105:100. However,
according to Tyrene White, a scholar at Swarthmore College, China's
ratio in 1995 was 117.4 boys for every 100 girls, and in 1997 it was
skewed even further to 120 males for every 100 females. China's
official statistics for the 2000 census report that 116.9 boys were
born for every 100 girls in that year as a national average. However,
the figure in the countryside and among certain provinces is much
higher: 130:100 in Hubei province, 130:100 in Guangdong province, and
135:100 in Hainan province.\13\ Figures compiled by the CIA show an
imbalance that is not as great, but still dramatic: in the Chinese
population aged under 15, the ratio is about 110:100. Even this
disparity means that over the next decade more than 15 million Chinese
men will come of age with bleak prospects for finding female partners,
let alone wives. According to a study by Valerie Hudson and Andrea Den
Boer which appeared in International Security in May 2002, China will
have 29 to 33 million unmarried males between the ages of 15 and 34 by
2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ See data at the China Population Information and Research
Center website, accessed at: http://www.cpirc.org.cn/enews20020514.htm;
see also Paul Wiseman, ``China thrown off balance as boys outnumber
girls,'' USA Today, June 19, 2002, accessed at: http://
www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/06/19/china-usat.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The consequent dearth of available brides fuels demand for
commercial sex workers, helps accelerate male migration into cities,
increases the numbers of women who are kidnapped and sold into
prostitution or as ``unwilling brides,'' and may be in part responsible
for the rise in men having sex with men in China.
Political obstacles
Until recently, the Chinese government largely ignored its HIV/AIDS
problem, dismissing it as a ``foreigners' disease'' and a peripheral
concern for nearly 15 years. By 2001, Chinese health officials could no
longer ignore the issue, due largely to the rise in ``involuntary''
infections to blood donors and recipients, the potential impact of HIV/
AIDS on China's economic growth and weakened healthcare sector, and the
growing human toll. Nevertheless, the Chinese Ministry of Health is a
comparatively weak bureaucratic actor in China, and lacks both the
financial and political clout to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis more
effectively. In any event, the nature of the problem requires a
comprehensive interagency effort, pulling together the resources and
expertise of other important bureaucracies in China, including the
State Family Planning Commission, the State Drug Administration, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, communication
and information agencies, and the Public Security Bureau. However, some
agencies, such as the State Family Planning Agency and the Public
Security Bureau, are among the most disliked and distrusted among
China's citizens, which will further complicate education, awareness,
monitoring and treatment efforts. Moreover, as the recent case of Wan
Yanhai seems to suggest, not all agencies in the Chinese government
view the HIV/AIDS problem through the same lens, and may work at cross
purposes with other parts of the bureaucracy.
Even if central authorities are able to work together in
implementing an effective strategic plan to combat HIV/AIDS, questions
arise about how to implement the strategy at its source in local and
grassroots level jurisdictions far from Beijing. Media reports and
discussions with central government health authorities bemoan the
difficulties in working with local officials who are disengaged from
the problem or actively deny the problem exists within their
jurisdiction. Local officials may be complicit in promoting illicit
blood collection operations, may fear harsh criticism will jeopardize
their career prospects, or may simply not have adequate resources and
information to implement central government directives. HIV/AIDS
sufferers in Henan have protested to the local government, demanding
medical care reparations for the damage done by the blood-buyers, but
they have been faced with stonewalling, detention and minimal help. In
the words of one protester, ``To them we are like bubbles. They know if
they turn away and ignore us, we will soon pop and be gone.'' \14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ Elisabeth Rosenthal, ``Spread of AIDS in Rural China Ignites
Protests,'' New York Times, December 11, 2001.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In another instance in Yunnan province, a local official complained
that their efforts were stymied by a fearful and misinformed citizenry:
I asked Wang Dazhang, the local Communist Party boss and much
more powerful than the town's mayor, what he was doing to
educate people about HIV/AIDS. He spread his hands and sighed.
Local officials had, he said, put up notices warning people and
urging the use of condoms. But local people had complained
bitterly about the notices and their illustrations. He had been
forced to order the warnings taken down.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Jonathan Manthorpe, ``Why China won't admit its growing
incidence of AIDS,'' The Vancouver Sun, July 9, 2002.
On the other hand, it should be said that both central and local
officials are less than enthusiastic about nongovernmental and
community-based organizations (NGOs and CBOs) which operate beyond the
authority of the state and party apparatuses. But the spread of HIV/
AIDS occurs at the grassroots, and needs to be addressed at that level,
as well as by the strategic resources and planning apparatus of the
central government. However, China not only lacks the resources of
experts and capital to focus on the grassroots level; in addition,
central and provincial authorities are politically wary of semi- or
wholly autonomous organizations operating outside of government and
party supervision. The preference for Leninist ``democratic
centralism''--another term for a top-down, Party-led approach--still
prevails in China, and complicates Beijing's ability to deal fully with
its HIV/AIDS problem.
implications for human rights, rule of law, and civil society
Social stigma
Chinese citizens, faced with a lack of reliable information about
HIV/AIDS, fear the worst. Various studies have shown that a majority of
the population does not know how HIV is spread. For example, a study
conducted in seven counties in China, surveying 7,053 individuals aged
15 to 49, from a cross section of economic and social backgrounds,
showed that 16.9 percent had never heard of HIV. Of those who had heard
of HIV, 73.3 percent did not know its cause and only 9.6 percent of
those surveyed could identify primary ways of preventing HIV infection.
Over 80 percent of those surveyed were unaware that HIV infection could
be contracted by sharing needles or by mother-to-child
transmission.\16\ With such poor or
misinformed understanding, the stigmatization of those with HIV/AIDS is
commonplace. According to Western media reports and studies by Chinese
HIV/AIDS activists, for example, HIV-positive farmers cannot sell their
produce in neighboring towns, and urban sufferers risk of job loss,
school expulsion and eviction from government housing. One farmer from
an ``AIDS village'' in Henan said, ``We have no income. When people
from the village try to find work, nobody wants to hire us because we
are HIV positive. . . .'' \17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ D. Holtzman, et al., HIV/AIDS-related knowledge among
residents in seven counties in China: implications for action,
presented at the XIV International AIDS Conference, Barcelona, Spain,
July 7-12, 2002.
\17\ Cindy Sui, ``Henan AIDS sufferers win partial victory
following protest,'' Agence France Press, March 27, 2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A recent survey of 4,000 Chinese showed that less than 4 percent of
respondents understood what HIV and AIDS are and how HIV is
transmitted, and over half believed that sharing utensils with HIV/AIDS
carriers can transmit HIV. Not only do individuals with HIV or AIDS
feel alienated in their hometowns, but they may even be rejected by
their own families. Unfortunately, there is even a great deal of
ignorance in the public health sector, as illustrated by the many cases
of hospitals and clinics refusing to treat afflicted patients. Official
government attitudes do little to dispel these fears. When HIV-positive
persons appear on government-run television, they do so with a disguise
and under a false name. Unfortunately, the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS
forces the problem deeper into the shadows of society. As one observer
wrote, ``Denial, stigma and discrimination are the three horsemen
driving China . . . towards a potential AIDS apocalypse. . . .'' \18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ Richard Ingham, ``Aids-Asia: Asia's Big Three tread road to
AIDS disaster,'' Agence France Press, July 8, 2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discrimination against HIV/AIDS-afflicted persons
But the problems faced by HIV-infected individuals, their families,
and other supporters goes beyond social stigma. According to reports
from Western journalists and as well as Chinese activists, it is often
the case that their basic rights are not properly protected, including
their rights to employment, health care, education, privacy, marriage,
and freedom of movement. Law enforcement often treats HIV/AIDS-
afflicted individuals as criminals, assuming they contracted the virus
through drug use, prostitution or homosexual sex.
As early as 1995, the State Council promulgated a statement
entitled ``Opinions in Regard to Reinforcing the Prevention and Control
of AIDS'' which demonstrated a short-sighted, narrow-minded and
discriminatory understanding of the disease. It stated, in part:
The prevention and control of AIDS must be conducted with
every effort as a part of the construction of a socialist
spiritual civilization. The prevention of AIDS is closely
related to the prohibition against narcotic drugs and
prostitution, to the purification of social atmosphere, and to
the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. Only when
drug use, prostitution, whoring and other ugly behavior [an
oblique reference to homosexuality, which in 1995 was
considered a psychological disease] are consistently
prohibited, can the spread of AIDS be prevented, and the
construction of socialist spiritual civilization be
secured.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ The 21st Notice of the State Council 1995, paragraph 10 is
quoted and translated in Qiu Renzong, ``A Proposal to the Legislation
and Law Reform in Relation to AIDS,'' self published in English by the
AIDS Action Project, and made available to the Freeman Chair in China
Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington,
D.C.
The regulations also require medical personnel to ``immediately
report'' on all ``Class A'' infectious diseases ``including HIV/AIDS.''
Additional laws require that HIV/AIDS patients be ``isolated for
treatment,'' and for ``those who refuse treatment in isolation or break
away from treatment in isolation before the expiration of isolation
period, the public security department may assist medical care
institutions in taking measures to enforce the treatment in
isolation.'' \20\ In another instance, the ``Maternal and Infant Health
Care'' law of the People's Republic requires that males and females in
the HIV ``infective period ``shall postpone their marriage for the time
being.'' \21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and
Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Chapter 4, Article 24, paragraph [5],
as reported by Qiu Renzong, ``A Proposal to the Legislation and Law
Reform in Relation to AIDS,'' self published by the AIDS Action
Project, and made available to the Freeman Chair in China Studies,
Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC.
\21\ As reported by Qiu Renzong, ``A Proposal to the Legislation
and Law Reform in Relation to AIDS,'' self published by the AIDS Action
Project, and made available to the to the Freeman Chair in China
Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington,
DC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ministry of Health has been supportive of voluntary testing,
and encouraged local regions to protect the rights of HIV/AIDS
sufferers. The ministry has not encouraged the enforcement of mandatory
testing outside of high-risk groups, or
enforced the isolation laws in any part of China. Since the late 1990s,
the Ministry of Health has taken a more proactive role in trying to
educate the population about HIV/AIDS through national mass media, and
trying to limit the discrimination faced by infected people throughout
the country. However, consistent with the Chinese saying ``the
mountains are high, and the emperor is far away,'' Beijing authorities
are increasingly ineffective in seeing to the adherence of central
government
directives, and this is particularly true of a weak bureaucratic actor
such as the Ministry of Health. As a result, the worst discriminatory
abuses against HIV/AIDS sufferers tend to occur at the direction of
local governments.
For example, in 2001, Chengdu--a city of some 10 million
inhabitants in central Sichuan province--enacted restrictive laws
against HIV/AIDS victims, even though the city only had 38 registered
HIV cases at the time. According to one report:
The Chengdu City AIDS Prevention and Management Regulations
prohibit AIDS patients and people who have tested positive for
HIV from marrying. They order police to test people in high-
risk groups, such as prostitutes and drug users, within 5 days
of an arrest, and require separate incarceration facilities for
those who have tested positive.
The regulations mandate AIDS tests for returning Chinese who
have been abroad for more than a year, and they suggest that
pregnant women with AIDS may be persuaded to abort their
fetuses if medicine that could prevent the transmission of the
virus to the child is unavailable. A part of the law that has
not been made public, as can happen in China, also bans people
with HIV or AIDS from working as kindergarten teachers or
surgeons, among other professions.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ John Pomfret, ``Chinese City Is First to Enact Law on AIDS
Controversial Rules Set for Infected People, High-Risk Groups,''
Washington Post, January 15, 2001.
Government owned newspapers, as well as officials in Beijing
complained openly about the regulations before they went into effect.
The only result was dropping a clause banning HIV-positive people from
public swimming pools.
Central and local authorities appear to be relying on past
experience to control HIV/AIDS, treating it as a conventional
infectious disease, and managing it with traditional public health
measures. Prior to 1949, diphtheria, typhoid and cholera were endemic
in China, small-pox and even plague outbreaks occurred regularly in
some areas. Through often draconian testing, reporting, contact
tracing, isolation and treatment regimes, the Communists were able to
virtually eradicate these diseases. Prior to the early 1980s, in
similarly strict fashion, they had effectively eradicated prostitution
and illicit drug use as well. China's current laws and enforcement
procedures vis-a-vis the HIV/AIDS epidemic appear to reflect these
approaches. However, coupled with widespread social discrimination
against HIV/AIDS victims, government efforts prohibiting marriage,
threatening confinement, and requiring mandatory reporting likely
ensures that HIV-infected individuals will be reluctant to undergo
voluntary screening. This in turn will lead to further propagation of
the disease.
Rise (and fall?) of HIV/AIDS activism
There are a number of official and semi-official organizations in
China set up to help address the HIV/AIDS crisis in the country. For
example, the China AIDS Network, based at the Peking Union Medical
College, conducts research and intervention and provides policy
recommendations to the Chinese government. Founded in 1991, it is made
up of some 34 experts from medical schools, research academies and
institutes, as well as the Public Security Bureau, the civil court, and
several provincial health inspection and prevention units. Its funding
comes largely from the Ford Foundation. Other NGOs supported by the
Ford Foundation include the Yunnan Reproductive Health Research
Association and the China Family Planning Association.\23\ Other
``government sanctioned'' semi-official organizations include the China
Foundation for AIDS Prevention and the Beijing Association of STD/AIDS
prevention and control.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ ``We Care . . . Do You?,'' U.N. Theme Group on AIDS, accessed
at: http://www.unchina.org/unaids/eus4right.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, several cities and regions in China now have telephone
hotlines that provide callers with ``personalized'' information on HIV/
AIDS transmission, symptoms, and treatments. Because of the stigma
attached to HIV, the hotlines provide a valuable method for
communicating with sufferers and at-risk groups in an anonymous, non-
threatening environment. In another example, a professor at the Qingdao
Medical College started the bi-monthly Friends Newsletter in 1998, the
first openly published gay-community magazine in China. Professor Zhang
Beichuan's newsletter carries much-needed information on HIV prevention
to China's marginalized and largely underground gay community. Xinhua
recently reported another ``non-government service center,'' the first
of its kind set up in Kunming, Yunnan province. The center, going by
the name ``Aizijia,'' was jointly established by the Red Cross Society
of Yunnan and the Salvation Army of Hong Kong and Macao, and provides
preventive education, information, and counseling on HIV/AIDS.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ Xinhua, April 15, 2002, accessed at http://www.china.org.cn
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet is also providing a forum for relatively affluent and
literate HIV-infected people and their supporters to voice their
frustrations and fears to the general public. Several on-line diaries
have appeared, chronicling the experiences of HIV-positive Chinese,
often with tales of discrimination. One site tells the story of a boy,
Song Pengfei, who was from a relatively wealthy family in Shaanxi
province. Song was infected from a blood transfusion he received after
a relatively minor accident. After his HIV infection was discovered,
the hospital notified local officials, and the Song family was driven
from town. The family owned a coal mine, and was ``dispossessed'' of
their property by the local government, and promised a regular stipend
if they moved to Beijing to seek treatment. The local government soon
reneged on the arrangement, and left the Songs to their own devices.
Song started his website (www.songpfhiv.com) and became an outspoken
HIV activist, challenging Health Minister Zhang Wenkang to shake his
hand on national TV, addressing journalists, and attending
international HIV/AIDS conferences. Notably, he is one of the few HIV-
positive Chinese actively taking anti-HIV ``drug cocktails,'' paid for
by a New York charity. Many activists hope that Song Pengfei can
demonstrate to the Chinese people that HIV-positive individuals,
properly treated, can enjoy more
normal lives.
However, the HIV/AIDS crisis, particularly the plight of blood
donors in Henan, has also given rise to ``a new breed of activist'' in
China.\25\ Individuals have risked detention by local authorities by
visiting ``AIDS Villages'' in Henan, bringing free medicine, and
reporting on the villagers' plight to the local and foreign media.
Noted activists include Dr. Gao Yaojie, a 79-year old retired
gynecologist who delivered medicine to HIV/AIDS victims, and
photographed and reported on the medical condition of several villages.
She was awarded the Global Health Council's Jonathan Mann Award in
2001, but was refused permission to leave the country to accept it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\25\ Leslie Chang, ``New Breed of Activist Braves China's AIDS
Crisis,'' Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wan Yanhai, a former HIV/AIDS researcher with the Chinese Ministry
of Health, founded the AIDS Action Project (Aizhi Xingdong) 9 years ago
after he was dismissed from the ministry for speaking out about health
issues. He also helped set up one of China's first HIV/AIDS telephone
``hotlines'' in 1992. The AIDS Action Project has received funding from
overseas groups such as the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. When Dr.
Gao was not allowed to travel to accept the Jonathan Mann award, Mr.
Wan accepted it from United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on her
behalf. Mr. Wan, who spends part of his time in Los Angeles while
remaining a Chinese citizen, has traveled and lectured around the world
to discuss China's HIV/AIDS crisis.
In June 2002, Wan Yanhai published ``death lists'' and ``orphan
lists'' of two villages in Henan province where local officials
repeatedly denied the presence of HIV. Four days later, the AIDS Action
Project was evicted from its space at a private university in Beijing.
Health Ministry officials refuse to acknowledge his NGOs existence,
since he has not been able to register with the appropriate
authorities. Mr. Wan explains that the high cost of official
registration--equal to US$12,000--is prohibitive. Wan Yanhai's website
(www.aizhi.com) contains extensive documentation in Chinese about the
Henan AIDS crisis. Mr. Wan and his staff have been the subject of
police harassment after Henan officials came to Beijing to complain
about his activities. Mr. Wan readily admits that he has been very
frank about the situation, as well as the government's slow response.
He has been under plainclothes police surveillance since early July
2002.
On August 24, 2002, Wan Yanhai disappeared, and on September 4 it
was announced he is being detained by the Public Security Bureau in
Beijing for ``revealing state secrets.'' It is believed his public
revelations of a sensitive internal Henan province document--which
demonstrates that provincial authorities in Henan and elsewhere were
aware of the HIV-tainted blood problem as early as 1995--is the cause
of his detention. The day before his detention, Mr. Wan provided
information specifically for this testimony, including a recommendation
for this Commission, knowing that it would become public information
(see below).
As noted above, Chinese authorities are wary about ``independent''
bodies that operate outside of State and Party supervision. True NGO's
and activists currently operate in a gray-area, like the AIDS Action
Project, always on the edge of eviction or harassment. Unfortunately,
such Chinese government views hamstring efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. It
will be imperative for ``home grown'' Chinese NGO's to engage the
population to combat the HIV/AIDS problem. ``China needs a Ryan
White,'' said one Chinese health official, referring to the HIV-
infected American boy whose plight helped shift U.S. public opinion
about the disease in the 1980s. ``But the government is afraid of what
China's Ryan White might say.'' \26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ Quoted in Philip Pan, ``As China Faces Crisis, People with HIV
are Kept Largely Invisible,'' Washington Post, Nov 20, 2001.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
policy responses
China's action plan and other efforts
In May 2001, the State Council published the Action Plan for
Reducing and Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS (2001-2005). The plan
defines objectives for 2002 and 2005, however, makes little mention of
how these goals will be accomplished. Emphasis is placed on ensuring
blood supply safety, raising public awareness, and making care
available to HIV-infected persons. Overall, the goals appear wildly
optimistic given the limited resources available to see to their
implementation.
One such goal for 2005 is to have 45 percent of the population in
the countryside know about voluntary blood donation and how HIV is
transmitted. It should be noted that the availability of timely and
accurate information in the countryside is extremely limited. Dr. Gao
Yaojie, on a trip to the countryside to deliver medicine, reported
peasants asking, ``Did Chairman Mao send you?'' \27\ Educating the
countryside is a lofty goal. A more realistic objective is to educate
95 percent of high-risk groups, while they are in ``drug detoxification
centers, re-education centers, prisons, and education through labor
[camps].'' \28\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\27\ Dr. Gao Yaojie, ``My `AIDS Prevention' Journey,'' accessed at
http://www.aizhi.org/jkwz/journey.htm.
\28\ State Council Office Document 2001-40, Action Plan for
Reducing and Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS (2001-2005) (in
Chinese). Article II, Section 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The plan also sets out to improve the health care system. Year-end
targets for 2002 include providing 50 percent of people living with
HIV/AIDS access to community and home care. At least 70 percent of
general hospitals should be able to provide HIV/AIDS diagnosis,
treatment, counseling and care by the end of 2002 as well. The plan
also calls for national radio, television and press to broadcast
information messages related to HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted
infections at least once per week.
Xinhua, the official state news agency, has run articles on HIV
transmission in recent months. The government owned, though quasi-
independent Nanfang Zhoumou [Southern Weekend], published extensive
accounts of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Henan province. However, the
government controlled press remains uncomfortable talking about
sexually transmitted diseases. There is a long-standing cultural taboo
in China about discussing sex openly. As a result, newspaper articles
still emphasize that HIV is spread through ``sharing needles for drug-
taking,'' with only a passing mention of how the disease is also
sexually transmitted.\29\ Homosexuality is still a taboo subject in the
national press, and not addressed at all. Perhaps most importantly,
there is no mention of the dangers of receiving blood transfusions or
the danger from ``illegal'' syringes or reusing needles within clinical
settings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\29\ As an example, see the recent reportage in Renmin Ribao
[People's Daily], July 24, 2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the past 3 to 4 years, Chinese consumers have become more aware
of their rights, and are now more sensitive to the dangers of sub-
standard products. Consumers have demanded that suppliers provide them
with adequate protections and assurances. It is very conceivable that
Chinese citizens will begin to apply their new found ``consumer
rights'' to the health care system, forcing healthcare providers to
improve quality. Chinese courts have recently awarded damages paid to
several victims of HIV tainted transfusions. While this is a positive
development, it remains to be seen if the court ordered restitution is
actually paid to the victims. As is often the case in the Chinese civil
court system, court orders are not always enforced, leaving the
plaintiff without effective recourse.
The 5-year action plan released in 2001 does not directly address
funding issues, but does encourage local governments to self-fund
projects, as well as look to international donors for cooperation and
financing. In 2001, the Central government increased its annual budget
for HIV/AIDS prevention and care from 15 million RMB (US$1.8 million)
to 100 million ($12 million).
The 2001 action plan is lacking in several respects. It continues
to marginalize vulnerable populations, emphasizes punishment and
segregation, and does little to address the socio-economic factors that
encourage the spread of AIDS. No mention is made of responsibility for
the floating population of migrant workers. The word, ``orphan'' does
not appear at any point in the plan. No provisions are made for the
social welfare of HIV/AIDS sufferers. No mention of outreach to non-Han
citizens is made. Some ethnic minorities such as the Yi in Yunnan, and
Uighurs in Xinjiang have already been very badly hit by drug use and
HIV infection. Homosexual transmission is not addressed. Cross-country
truck drivers are an especially high-risk group but are not mentioned
in the action plan. Nevertheless, publication of the plan indicates a
far more serious approach by Beijing toward this problem, and efforts
aimed at achieving ambitious goals should be applauded.
On a more positive note, the recent introduction of ``sex ed'' to
the middle-school curriculum in several cities is a welcome sign. While
it is not yet a nation-wide program, it is a step in the right
direction, and will prepare future generations to deal with sexually
transmitted diseases, as well as basic health care issues, and
reproductive concerns.
Assistance from the United States
U.S.-China government-to-government efforts on HIV/AIDS have been
somewhat limited to date. In late June 2002, during the visit to
Washington of Chinese Health Minister Zhang Wenkang, Secretary of
Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson announced a US$14.8 million
grant to the Chinese CDC for training and research. Two U.S. CDC
personnel will be assigned to the Chinese CDC to ``provide assistance
in responding to China's HIV/AIDS epidemic.'' \30\ The CDC has
conducted a preliminary in-country assessment with Chinese counterparts
in China, and has formally proposed possible areas of bilateral
cooperation, to include work on improving HIV awareness and education,
increasing interventions in China among
high-risk populations, and enhancing surveillance, voluntary testing,
blood safety, training, and care for infected persons. The United
States government is increasing the number of persons posted to China
who will work on health-related issues and Chinese scientists are
working on HIV-related issues in the National Institutes of Health.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\30\ From the U.S. Embassy Beijing website, http://www.usembassy-
china.org.cn/sandt/uschina-hivaids.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Other governments, such as Australia have channeled millions
through government sponsored NGOs, such as the China-Australia NGO
Scheme (CHANGES), which provides assistance to Australian NGO's to work
in close cooperation with counterpart organizations. Through CHANGES,
Australia has plans to spend AUD$14.7 million over 5 years in Xinjiang,
and an additional $3 to $5 million in Tibet. The Australian Red Cross
has also been active in grassroots education projects. The United
Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) will spend
GBP$15.3 million between 2000 and 2005 in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces
on surveillance, and increased access to at-risk groups. The United
Kingdom-based Save the Children organization is involved in grassroots,
children's education projects in Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Anhui.)
Multilateral organizations under the United Nations umbrella have
made a major contribution to China's fight against HIV/AIDS. From 1996
to 2000, UNICEF managed two major projects, one in Yunnan Province and
one nationally, with total funding of $2.2 million. The World Bank has
supported several HIV/AIDS projects in China since 1991. A major
project in 1999, with funding over US$33 million, helped the Chinese
government develop relevant policies and institutional capacities. As
part of this program, additional grants of AUD$2 million from Australia
and $400,000 from Japan promoted NGOs' participation in HIV/AIDS
prevention and care. The World Bank together with the DFID is preparing
a new project to support the Chinese government's long-term effort to
control tuberculosis, and build links between HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis
prevention.\31\
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\31\ ``We Care . . . Do You?,'' U.N. Theme Group on AIDS, accessed
at: http://www.unchina.org/unaids/eus4right.html.
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The United States also funds multilateral organizations that
contribute to the fight against AIDS, including The Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which was founded in 2000 at the
G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. It is well funded by the G8 nations, as well
as private foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Secretary Thompson sits on the board of directors, along with
representatives from other donor countries as well as recipient
countries and international NGO's.\32\
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\32\ ``Fact Sheet,'' The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria, accessed at: http://www.globalfundatm.org/journalists/
fsheets/fs.htm
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U.S. non-governmental organizations have been very active in China,
funding some Chinese ``NGOs'' and independent groups. Many American
foundations, including the Ford Foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor
Foundation, the Packard Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation have all participated in funding independent groups in
China, including the AIDS Action Project.
additional recommendations
What the Chinese Government should consider
China's health-related ministries and agencies are facing an uphill
battle, and are keen to develop new and effective policies to combat
the spread of HIV/AIDS in China. With proper resources and greater
political commitment, a number of important steps could be taken:
Create a formal and fully staffed and fully-funded
``Office of National HIV/AIDS Policy'' within either the
President's office or directly under the Premier in the State
Council. This would provide greater day-to-day oversight and
coordination than presently exists under the loosely organized
interagency process, or ``lingdao xiaozu'' [``leading small
group''] system currently tasked with the HIV/AIDS issue and
headed by Vice Premier Li Lanqing. The new office would carry
more political weight and would be better positioned to
overcome bureaucratic ``stovepiping'' and competition with
currently thwarts an effective, multi-agency approach in China.
Draw from other country's experiences in combating the
spread of HIV/AIDS. Emphasis should be placed on needle
exchange and methadone programs, as well as condom use among
prostitutes and customers. Prevention education focused on long
distance truck drivers and along West to East rail lines should
occur nation-wide.
Nationalize a junior high school sex education program
that would include information about HIV/AIDS and other STDs,
and how to prevent infection.
Encourage the establishment and growth of grassroots
organizations and community based organizations (CBOs) to help
prevent HIV/AIDS spread in the countryside.
Increase the HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease
surveillance carried out in China. This would include, in part,
an increase in the increasing the number of HIV/AIDS sentinel
surveillance sites and distributing these sites more evenly
among provinces and among population groups.
Conduct more frequent voluntary screening for HIV/AIDS
within the general population.
Invest greater resources in cleaning the blood supply
and enforcing prohibitions against unregulated blood donations
and distribution.
Revise national HIV/AIDS related laws to ensure civil
rights protections. Clear policies on confidentiality and the
legal use of test results must be developed and widely
disseminated to both central government authorities and local
level officials, as well as health officials.
What the U.S. Government can do
U.S.-China cooperation in combating HIV/AIDS stands out as a
potentially positive area for bilateral relations, both at the
governmental and non-governmental levels. Practical actions should
include:
Focusing cooperation in certain key areas, especially
assistance and training in surveillance, epidemiological
studies, HIV awareness and preventive education, legal and
regulatory reform, blood safety, and community health care.
Continuing high-level, official attention to this
issue by Americans with their Chinese interlocutors: Members of
Congress, members of relevant executive branches, and the White
House itself need to keep this issue at the top of the
bilateral agenda. During the upcoming summit between Presidents
Bush and Jiang in late October, the two sides should
prominently note and support expansion of ongoing U.S.-China
programs focusing on HIV/AIDS.
Recognizing and encouraging the importance of
grassroots and community-based organizations (CBOs) working in
China to address the HIV/AIDS
problem.
Sustaining and expanding U.S. Government funding in
support of HIV/AIDS-related education, awareness, medical
training, and epidemiological research, including assistance in
updating and distributing national treatment guidelines and a
national training program.
Consider military to military exchanges to further
study HIV/AIDS prevalence in China, possibly making use of
epidemiological data derived from PLA screening of all
recruits.
Initiating Peace Corps efforts in China which offer
HIV/AIDS awareness, preventive education and training programs.
Improving interagency cooperation and consultation on
HIV/AIDS in China, perhaps as part of the interagency science
and technology consultation process.
Some closing words from Wan Yanhai
In preparation for this testimony, Wan Yanhai was contacted to
solicit his insights and provide suggestions for U.S. Government
involvement in the Chinese fight against HIV/AIDS. The day before he
was detained, he sent this e-mail:
I think, as the leading country of the world, U.S. Congress
and U.S. Administration should take responsibilities for
improving the lives of HIV/AIDS sufferers in China. But how to
influence Chinese policies and attitudes is not an easy
question. In one hand, US could work with our government, in
another hand, your Congress and government should support those
who are working in the grassroot communities.
For preventing discrimination against HIV/AIDS sufferers in
China, and promoting grassroot organizations, funding for
research, education and community activities is important.
People are now willing to organize and help themselves, but
they lack resources. It is very important to set up a fund for
NGOs or CBOs in the bilateral cooperation.
Best Regards, Wan Yanhai
______
Prepared Statement of Don Des Jarlais
september 9, 2002
The Twin Epidemics of HIV and Illicit Drug Use in China: Coping with
Both or Coping with Neither
linked epidemics of injecting drug use and hiv
70 percent of HIV cases among injecting drug users [IDUs]
possibly additional linkage to sexually transmitted diseases
Use of commercial sex workers by injecting drug users
Potential sex work by drug users
STDs facilitate HIV transmission
current projects in china
World Health Organization Multi-Site Study of Drug Use and HIV, second
phase
Investigators: Vladimir Poznyak, WHO Geneva; Don Des Jarlais, BIMC/
NDRI New York; Gerry Stimson, ICM London; Wu Zunyou, Chinese Academy of
Preventive Medicine Beijing
Sites: Fourteen cities in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, North
America, South America
Design: Rapid Assessment and Response (RAR) of drug use and HIV
situation in each city, followed by structured risk behavior and HIV
surveys of 400 drug users in treatment and recruited from the
community. Analyses to determine similarities and differences in HIV/
AIDS among drug users in different developing countries. Comparison
with data from industrialized nations in WHO Study phase one.
Preliminary Findings: High degree of stigmatization of both
injecting drug use and HIV in Beijing. Lack of trust between health
officials and drug users. Community recruitment of active drug users
quite difficult because of the lack of trust. This would make HIV
prevention programming very difficult. Beijing in official spotlight on
political issues.
China-UK project on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care
Investigators: Cheng Feng and William Stewart
Sites: Multiple provinces
Design: Comprehensive programming to reduce sexual and drug use
transmission of HIV and provision of care for HIV infected person.
Situational Assessment of Sexual Health for sexual risk behavior and
sexually transmitted diseases, and Rapid Assessment for drug use risks.
Additional evaluation designs to be developed.
Preliminary Findings: Gained official approval of ``social
marketing of sterile syringes,'' encouraging drug users to purchase and
use sterile injection equipment, but not syringe exchange. Possible
implementation of methadone maintenance treatment for heroin addiction
on a pilot basis.
Cross Border Project China-Vietnam
Investigators: Ted Hammett, Abt Associates Boston; Don Des Jarlais,
BIMC/NDRI New York; Lui Wei, Guangzi Province, China; Chung A, NASB
Hanoi
Sites: Guangzi Province in southern China and Lang Son province in
northern Vietnam
Design: Peer education for active drug users combined with social
marketing of sterile syringes (China) and syringe exchange (Viet Nam)
and community education. First attempt to coordinate HIV prevention for
drug users across an international border. Cross sectional risk
behavior and HIV prevalence surveys every 6 months.
Preliminary Findings: Good working relationships between health
officials and drug users. Working peer educator program. Drug users
concerned about carrying (and using) new injection equipment because of
possible arrests by police.
points for consideration
1. Potential for extremely rapid spread of HIV among drug injectors
a. Incidence rates of 20 percent to 50 percent per year, has
occurred in some areas of China
b. HIV among drug users in all provinces
2. Potential for highly effective prevention of HIV transmission
among drug injectors
Possible to keep total HIV infections to 5 percent or less in
populations of injecting drug users
a. Begin early
b. Trusting communications between health workers and drug
users
c. Good access to sterile injection equipment
3. Potential spread of HIV to sexual partners of IDUs
a. To regular sexual partners (wives)
b. Through commercial sex work to general population?
4. Growth of drug use in China
a. 860,000 officially registered drug users
b. The number of registered drug users has increased by 53.3
percent over the last year
c. The actual number of drug users is undoubtedly much
greater than the number officially registered
d. Would be a major social and health problem even without
HIV
Immediate need for programs to
1. Prevent spread of HIV among IDUs
2. Prevent spread to sexual partners
3. Prevent initiation into injecting drug use (Wu and Detels)
4. Provide treatment for drug addiction, chemotherapy treatment
such as methadone maintenance
5. Need to do all of these at public health scale
6. Limited resources an issue but need for policy commitment even
greater
problem
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