China's first anti-AIDS campaign launched

25 February, 2008

For the first time, the communist government of China has launched a program to combat the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) targeting homosexual men.

The Chinese authorities are embarking on the program amidst mounting and widespread concern that the dreaded disease is becoming increasingly prevalent among homosexuals.

According to the China Daily, the anti-AIDS program, to start with, will examine lifestyles of homosexual men.

It may be noted that China's communist rulers have, for many decades, considered homosexuality as a psychological problem. It was only in 2001 that the Chinese government removed being gay from the official list of mental disorders.

Wang Weizhen, a senior official with the Chinese health ministry's HIV/AIDS prevention department, was quoted by the China Daily as saying," The anti-AIDS program aims to strengthen measures to prevent and control the deadly disease among the homosexual community. By learning more about gay people, we can protect them better against this incurable disease. Studies are under way in several cities to collect information on gay men, such as their behavioral patterns.”

Additionally, the program will give special funding and technical support to gay men, Wang said.

According to official estimates, China has between 5 million and 10 million homosexual men. Anti-AIDS activists say that this figure is far lower than the real numbers.

However, it is a fact that an increasing number of gay men in China are losing lives because of HIV/AIDS, according to activists.

According to data compiled by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organization in 2007, of the 700,000 Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS, sex between men accounted for 12.2% of the infections.

The news agency AFP reports that, even as China's official press has highlighted the government's new campaign to combat AIDS, Hu Jia, one of the most prominent anti-AIDS campaigners in the country, is languishing in jail on charges of "subversion.”

Hu Jia, who, besides the anti-AIDS campaign, strived to increase awareness about a wide range of human rights issues, was arrested in December 2007. He is now awaiting trial.

Human rights groups both in China and across the world have alleged that the Chinese authorities arrested Hu as a part of their sustained campaign to muzzle any voices of dissent.