Slow progress

Despite all challenges China has made progress in fighting discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS. Messages on mass media call the public to treat those with HIV/AIDS equally.

In early 2010, the Chinese Government revised its exit-entry regulations, lifting a 20-year-old rule that banned foreigners with HIV/AIDS from entering the country.

China also began to provide free antiretroviral drugs in 2002. Statistics show that this resulted in the AIDS-related death rate dropping from 39.3 persons out of 100 people infected with HIV/AIDS in 2002 to 14.2 persons in 2009. Antiretroviral drugs combat infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV.

Double-edge sword

But Taylor thinks these measures are not enough. According to his estimation, China had about 740,000 people living HIV/AIDS in 2009. However, only about a third know that they are HIV positive, because many of these people won't get tested as they are afraid their positive status will result in social discrimination, he said.

Taylor said this form of discrimination is harmful to not only those with HIV/AIDS, but the whole society. Sources from Marie Stopes International, a global not-for-profit sexual healthcare organization, show that sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS has been the major channel since 2007, replacing that from blood transfusion. "This means that HIV/AIDS is very close to every one of us," said Xia Donghua, a project manager of Marie Stopes International China, in an interview with Caixin Century, adding that if discrimination cannot be abolished, more people will be affected.

Taylor said that medical treatment of people with HIV/AIDS is beneficial because it helps the individual and society. When people with HIV/AIDS receive treatment, the amount of virus inside their bodies is reduced, making it harder to infect others. "So, it is very important for those people to get treatment, not just for themselves, but for the society as a whole," said Taylor.

He admitted that discrimination has now become one of the biggest obstacles for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment not only in China, but also worldwide.

"In comparison, African countries do much better than China in terms of eliminating discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS," said Ma Li, Director of Beijing-based ZT Consultancy. His company is currently cooperating with the Zambia Institute of Natural Medicine and Research to supply Chinese medical materials for AIDS treatment. "You can see AIDS information posters almost everywhere and you can see politicians shaking hands and hugging people with HIV/AIDS on TV," Ma added.