A nation of ghost whispers
- Source: Global Times
- [23:25 November 30 2009]
- Comments
With the theme of "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise", today is the 22nd World AIDS Day.
"We are HIV patients. Please hug us. Thank you," is written on the sign of two university students working the streets of Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province, on December 1, 2007. The Chinese caption for this agency photo stresses the two un-named students are only "pretending to have HIV".
An HIV/AIDS activist dons a condom dress to distribute brochures in Xiamen, a coastal city of Fujian Province on December 1, 2007. Photos: CFP
By Yin Hang
He was working as a doctor at one of the top hospitals in western China when his life was changed forever.
The 25-year-old doctor, who requested anonymity, was kicked out of his office. His colleagues came and removed his desk, chair, gowns – everything he had touched – and burned it.
"They treated me as if they had seen a ghost," he told the Global Times. No twinge of resentment could be perceived in the facial expression of this neat, tacit, HIV-positive man.
Nearly a quarter of medical staff and more than one-third of government officials and teachers develop more negative and discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV after learning about their status, according to The China Stigma Index Report, released by UNAIDS in Beijing on Friday morning.
The damning survey found nearly one-sixth of those with HIV had their status leaked to other people without their permission by healthcare professionals. More than one-tenth said they had been refused medical care at least once.
