News (Updated January 22,
2006)
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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-20 13:56
China's State Council, the cabinet, Wednesday approved in principle a draft
regulation on HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
The regulation specified roles of governments at various levels, the rights
and obligations of people infected with HIV and of AIDS patients, the HIV/AIDS
prevention and control system and relevant checking system, treatment of people
living with HIV and measures on HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
The regulation will be officially promulgated and enforced after further
revisions, according to the State Council.
Li Li has lost exact count of how many men she has bedded, but she knows the
number is far above 100.
"I don't keep statistics," says the former journalist, 27. But she
isn't averse to kissing and telling. For the past couple of years, Li has kept a
blog written under the pen name Muzi Mei that has chronicled everything from her
penchant for orgies and Internet dating to her skepticism toward marriage when
it means staying faithful to one man.
This fall the Beijing resident posted a recording of her own lovemaking
sounds that would make Paris Hilton blush. More than 50,000 people
simultaneously tried to download the 25-minute podcast, crashing the host
server.
Despite government attempts to censor it, the sex diary is so popular that
Li's pen name is intermittently the most searched keyword on China's top search
engine. "I express my freedom through sex," says Li, unapologetically.
"It's my life, and I can do what I want."
Freedom in the bedroom is a novel concept in China. Dressed in baggy Mao
suits hardly outfits to set the pulse racing citizens of the People's Republic
had to ask permission from local officials on everything from whom to marry to
what kind of birth control to use.
But these days many Chinese are walking on the wilder side. Sparked by the
easing of government control over individual lifestyle choices and the spread of
more permissive, Western attitudes toward sex, Chinese are copulating earlier,
more often and with more partners than ever before.
Today 70% of Beijing residents say they have had sexual relations before
marriage, compared with just 15.5% in 1989, according to Li Yinhe, a sociologist
at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
A survey taken last January of seven major Chinese cities found that among
those 14 to 20, the average age of first sexual experience was 17.4, while those
31 to 40 had lost their virginity much later, at 24.1 years old. Says Fu Zhen,
28, a teacher in Shanghai: "My parents' only entertainment came from
revolutionary movies, so they were very conservative about sex. My generation,
we see everything from everywhere, and we are hungry for new experiences."
As if to underline the point, Fu has adopted the nickname Carrie's in Bradshaw,
of Sex and the City.
All this hanky-panky is spawning new industries. Lingerie boutiques are
proliferating in the big cities, and last November's Sex Culture Festival in the
southern city of Guangzhou attracted more than 50,000 people eager to procure
the very latest in adult toys. One of the most popular? The "erotic
butterfly," specially designed for women.
But China's sexual revolution has also brought unpleasant side effects.
Although sex education is supposedly mandatory in Chinese middle schools,
"many older teachers are too embarrassed, so they tear out the pages about
sex from the textbooks," says Hu Peicheng, secretary-general of the China
Sexology Association in Beijing.
With little knowledge of birth control, an increasing number of unmarried
women are getting pregnant in a culture in which single motherhood is still
taboo. A survey by Shanghai medical researcher Yan Fengting found that 65% of
urban women undergoing abortions in 2004 were single, compared with just 25% in
1999. Rates of sexually transmitted diseases are skyrocketing too, with HIV
infections growing most quickly among Chinese 15 to 24 years old.
Brothels barely disguised as beauty salons crowd the streets of China's big
cities, while certain suburbs are known as "concubine villages"
because of their high concentration of mistresses.
Those extra temptations which China largely eradicated after taking power in
1949 have wreaked havoc on marriages, with 1.6 million Chinese couples divorcing
in 2004, a 21% rise from the year before, according to the Ministry of Civil
Affairs.
"Before in society, we had a sense of right and wrong," says the
China Sexology Association's Hu. "Now, we can do whatever we want. But do
we have any moral standards left?"
Younger Chinese aren't too concerned. A poll by a Beijing magazine found that
one-third of Chinese under the age of 26 had no problem with extramarital
affairs.
In a country where there's little political autonomy for young people, at
least there's plenty of free love. "Maybe in the past, everyone was
obedient and listened to the old grannies who lectured on who you could have sex
with and in what position," says blogger Li. "But we don't have time
to listen. We're too busy having sex."
Source: China Daily
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-22 10:02
A lecture was held recently to help government officials from 14 cities in
south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region know more about AIDS and do a
better job in AIDS control.
This is the first time that local Guangxi officials have AIDS lectures, said
Tan Mingjie, deputy head of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Health
Bureau.
The move is aimed at improving local officials' awareness of how to prevent
HIV/AIDS from spreading and publicizing state policies on AIDS prevention and
control among the general public.
By the end of last year, Guangxi had reported 20,604 HIV carriers, ranking
the third among China's provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions,
according to the regional health bureau figures.
Last year, Guangxi spent more than 30 million yuan (3.75 million U.S.
dollars) allocated by the state and eight million yuan earmarked by the regional
government to treat HIV carriers and prevent and control the spread of AIDS.
Guangxi has set up 22 state-level and 28 regional-level stations for HIV/AIDS
monitoring and testing.
20
Jan 2006
The
verdict of the HIV transmission case is due today in Harbin court today. The
case involves transmission of HIV virus to 15 people through blood collected
from an infected couple who sold their blood to the Bei’an construction farm
hospital in Heilongjiang province of Northeast China. It was found that 15
people were infected from the virus directly through the contaminated blood
transfusion and the other four got infection indirectly from the infected, as
they were either spouse or children of the infected.
The court is to give the verdict today as 16 of the infected patients have asked
for a compensation of more than 30 million yuan ($ 3.7 million) from the
Bei’an hospital and farm which they feel is responsible for the transfusion of
infected blood without
properly checking the blood for presence of HIV.
First
Lady Laura Bush has defended the US government's emphasis on abstinence in
battling the HIV-AIDS epidemic, saying it had proven to be effective.
Bush, recently returned from a tour of African countries, told the BBC in
an interview that it was "very important" to promote abstinence as
a way of stopping the spread of AIDS.
Her husband's administration supported an approach employed by Uganda
that stressed abstinence, fidelity and the use of condoms, Bush said.
"But I think it's very important to talk about abstinence,
especially in countries where girls think they have to comply with the
wishes of men, in countries where girls are not educated, where they are
oppressed, in many instances," Bush said.
It was important to address abstinence "to let people know that
that's a choice," said Bush, whose comments to the BBC were released by
the White House.
The administration of President George W. Bush has come under criticism
from AIDS activists and development experts who say Washington has
overlooked useful projects and groups due to its focus on abstinence.
Laura Bush said the US supported Uganda's program, known as
"ABC," which promotes abstinence, being faithful to a partner and
the correct and consistent use of condoms.
She said all three points were "important" and added: "But
I think it's really -- it sort of irritates me when I hear people act like
abstinence is not a real choice, because it is, and it's 100 percent
effective."
The First Lady has taken on a more prominent public role in her husband's
second term, speaking about women's rights abroad and the AIDS epidemic.
Asked what was missing from media coverage of her husband, she said:
"Well, that he's a great reader, that he loves to read."
Having recently attended the inauguration of Liberia's female president
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Bush has said she expects a woman to be elected as US
president in the near future.
But Senator Hilary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton and a
fierce critic of the current president, will not be able to count on support
from the First Lady if she decides to run for the presidency in 2008.
"I think I'll vote for the Republican woman," Bush said.
The UN's cultural, scientific and educational agency UNESCO and a
coalition of big businesses signed a partnership aimed at increasing action
by the private sector to combat HIV/AIDS.
UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura stressed the need for
cooperation between institutions and the private sector to fight the
"scourge" of HIV/AIDS.
"The world of work is an essential element in any action, whether it
concern prevention, skills acquisition or behaviour change, which allows to
limit the pandemic's transmission and impact, and care," he said at a
ceremony in Paris.
The Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV/AIDS, whose president Richard
Holbrooke signed the agreement on Monday, is an alliance of 200 companies
which encourages its members to to commit themselves to fighting AIDS.
The GBC's European director Therese Lethu said Paris would host a summit
of European companies in October to hammer out common strategies against
AIDS.
Many of the coalition's members, including DaimlerChrysler,
GlaxoSmithKline, Total, L'Oreal, Volkswagen, Johnson and Johnson, and
Unilever have already implemented anti-AIDS strategies, mostly in Africa.
Holbrooke, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, said that
UNESCO's experience in carrying out AIDS prevention and education work would
help the GBC's members carry out "more effective action" against
AIDS.
Founded in 1997 and based in New York, the GBC's members employ more than
54 million people worldwide.
US President George W. Bush has chosen the US global AIDS assistance
coordinator, Randall Tobias, to lead the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), the White House said.
If confirmed by the US Senate, Tobias would replace Andrew Natsios, whose
departure was announced last month.
Tobias is responsible for coordinating the US government's international
HIV/AIDS assistance efforts.
He previously served as chairman, president and chief executive officer
of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company.
South
Africa's blood supply service has slammed gays who gave blood this week
without revealing their sexual status to protest the policy of turning away
donations by homosexuals.
Some 120 members of the Johannesburg-based Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GLA)
on Friday donated blood at clinics in response to a statement by the South
African National Blood Service (SANBS) asking gays not to do so.
The group's members lied about their sexual status on an admission form
and only after donating blood told the SANBS that 65 percent of them had
engaged in high-risk sexual behaviour and were unsure of their HIV status,
while at least one member had full-blown AIDS.
"What bothers us is that someone could not do something like this
without realising their responsibility to the safety of the blood
supply," SANBS spokeswoman Ianthe Exall told the Johannesburg-based
Sunday Independent.
"Blood donation is not a right, it's a privilege. Everybody has to
meet the right criteria," she said.
Dubbed the "blood wars" by the South African media, the dispute
erupted Thursday between the SANBS and South Africa's gay and lesbian
community when the blood service issued a statement asking gays not to
donate blood.
"A man who has had sex with another man within the last five years,
whether oral or anal sex, with or without a condom or other form of
protection, is not permitted to donate blood and must please not do
so," the statement said.
The SANBS said its ban was based on "international practice"
and on data in international medical publications that men who have sex with
men showed increased risk of HIV transmission and other blood infections.
Gay groups however described the ban as homophobic.
Glenn de Swardt of the Triangle Project, the oldest gay service
organisation in South Africa, said that HIV and AIDS infected all people,
regardless of their age, race, gender or sexual orientation.
The stance of the SANBS was "prejudiced and homophobic and
contributes further to the stigmatisation and marginalisation of the gay
community," he said.
South Africa has one of the world's biggest AIDS caseloads with about one
in seven people, or 6.5 million, living with HIV or AIDS, according to the
health ministry.
By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer2
hours, 5 minutes ago
The families of hundreds of HIV-infected Libyan children asked for $12
million in compensation for each child Saturday as part of efforts to
resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged
with intentionally infecting the children.
Idris Lagha, head of the Association for the Families of the HIV-Infected
Children, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that while the
request "is a fair deal, we will also negotiate."
Lagha said the group made the request at a meeting Saturday attended by
EU and U.S. representatives and a Bulgarian organization.
Bulgaria, the U.S., Britain and the European Union have agreed with Libya
to set up an international fund for the families of 426 infected children.
That deal resulted in the Libyan Supreme Court decision overturning death
sentences against the medical workers and ordering a retrial.
The agreement included no details on the amount of money, said Maxim
Minchev, co-chairman of the Bulgarian nongovernment agency for promoting
ties with Libya.
The nurses and doctor have been held in Libya since 1999. They were
convicted in May 2004 on charges of intentionally infecting the children at
the al-Fath Children's Hospital in Benghazi as part of an experiment to find
a cure for AIDS.
Europe, the United States and human rights groups accused Libya of
concocting the charges to cover up poor hygiene conditions at its hospitals
they say caused the infections. The six medical workers said they were
tortured to extract confessions.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has been working to repair Libya's image as
a rogue state, agreeing to dismantle its programs for weapons of mass
destruction and to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the
victims of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland.
|
19 Jan 2006 12:46:52 GMT
Source: IRIN
|
BAGHDAD, 19 January (IRIN) - The health ministry has announced an increase in
newly reported cases of HIV/AIDS over the past few months, the first such
pronouncement since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003.
According to Dr Wadah Hamed, director of the AIDS Research Centre (ARC), 26
new cases have been reported since October 2005, most of them in the capital,
Baghdad. "From the total new cases discovered, eight are of Iraqi
nationality and the rest are foreigners from different countries," he said.
He added that the findings came as a result of routine blood tests of people
entering the country, carried out at border entry points.
By law, every person who enters Iraq must be tested for HIV. If this is not
possible, entrants have a week to receive free testing at any of the ARC's 17
laboratories located throughout the country.
Anyone who does not comply can be subject to deportation. "We have
successfully controlled the situation and deported those foreigners infected to
prevent further sexual transmission and guarantee the safety of Iraqis,"
said Abd Obeid, a senior official in the interior ministry.
According to Obeid, more than 15 foreigners who tested positive for the HIV
virus have been deported so far. The policy of deporting those carrying the
virus is common in Arab countries and has been criticised by health experts.
But government officials in Iraq say they barely have enough medicine to
treat patients.
Treatment and cases
Iraqi patients, meanwhile, receive free treatment at the centre, which
currently provides support to about 75 people.
"Patients in our centre are freely treated, and also receive US $50
monthly from the health ministry for extra expenses through a special programme
designed for them and their families," said Hamed.
Patients also receive anti-retro viral treatment, supplied by the health
ministry through support from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The first instance of HIV/AIDS was discovered in Iraq in 1986. Since then,
around 261 cases have been reported to the health ministry, including a number
who have since died.
According to Hamed, in 73 percent of recorded cases the source of infection
has been infected blood transfusions, while 16 percent were through sexual
transmission (heterosexual and homosexual) and five percent through
mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy.
There have been no reported cases of transmission by drug addicts sharing
syringes.
Most of the patients are between the ages of 28 and 48 and the reported rate
of infection is higher for men than women. Most women who have been infected
have either acquired the virus from their husbands or through transfusions.
Public awareness
A prevention campaign is scheduled to kick off in February, largely as a
result of the recent health ministry announcement.
First
Lady Laura Bush has defended the US government's emphasis on abstinence in
battling the HIV-AIDS epidemic, saying it had proven to be effective.