INTERVIEW: Prejudice, complacency haunt China after blood scandal

By Bill Smith Jun 9, 2011, 12:01 GMT

Beijing - Tens of thousands of people in poor, rural areas of central China were infected with HIV through illegal or government-run blood-selling schemes during the late 1980s and the 1990s.

In the worst-hit province of Henan, health officials admitted that up to 100,000 people may have been infected through selling their blood, though some estimates put the number infected at 500,000 to 700,000.

Several doctors and activists who travelled to what became known as 'AIDS villages' concluded that local officials had covered up the blood-selling problem and left infected people to their fate.

One of the pioneers who exposed the scandal and treated the victims was Gui Xi'en, an expert in infectious diseases at Zhongnan Hospital in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

Gui spoke to the German Press Agency dpa about how he defied a climate of secrecy, threats and interference in his work to help HIV-infected people in Shangcai county in the neighbouring province of Henan.

dpa: How did you feel in 1999 when you first discovered that villagers in Henan were HIV positive?

Gui: I was shocked. So many people were infected through blood-selling. The local government was not happy (with my work) at that time, so I conducted my work in private. Patients also travelled to other counties and some of them came to Wuhan, so I could carry on my work. And I also reported my work to Beijing.

dpa: Looking back, how much progress has been made in tracing the spread of HIV/AIDS in these villages and in treating infected people?

Gui: The changes have been huge. They never thought about testing themselves for HIV in 1999, as the government had started testing then but it was not free. Now villagers can test for HIV free of charge.

Moreover, the villages with many patients all have health centres. There are 120 kinds of medicine in each health centre that are given for free. Patients can also be treated in township hospitals and county hospitals for free if they need it.

dpa: What percentage of children are HIV-infected in areas like Shangcai? What special problems do infected children face?

Gui: I conducted an MTCT (mother-to-child transmission) investigation and an investigation of children with AIDS. I found dozens of infected children in Shangcai county in 2001.

The treatment of children with AIDS began with the help of the Clinton Foundation. They provided medicine for children.

In the more than 20 counties who now work with us, the mother-to-foetus transmission rate decreased to less than 5 per cent. Originally it was 35 per cent.

dpa: How serious is discrimination against HIV-infected people in China? How can the government help?

Gui: Discrimination is still very serious. This is a very important issue for us to face. There was a man in Anhui province last year who passed the civil service test, but he was refused entry due to his positive HIV test.

I work in a hospital. My work involves dealing with AIDS patients every day. I've seen many patients who need surgery but the local hospitals always refuse to operate on them. So they finally come to our hospital ... Even medical staff discriminate against AIDS patients.

dpa: Are there still signs of complacency about the sexual transmission of HIV?

Our investigation in Hubei shows that the infection rate among sex workers is quite low, less than 1 per cent, while male homosexual infection is really a big issue.

About 80 per cent of our hundreds of male homosexual AIDS patients are highly educated. But they still lack knowledge about AIDS prevention. The infection rate of homosexual men in Wuhan is about 4 per cent, much higher than the infection rate of sex workers.

Most male homosexuals in China are in the closet. I know that some of them even plan to marry (women). They said they need to carry on the family line. That reflects the truth that most homosexual men here (in Hubei) are bisexual. They have boyfriends and wives at the same time. That makes the spread of the disease more complicated.

dpa: What more would you like to see the government do over the next few years?

Gui: I made some suggestions to the government, because screening for infections needs financial and policy support. AIDS exists in every province in China, but the situation in each province is different.

In Yili, Xinjiang province, there are thousands of infected patients out of a population of 430,000. About 1 per cent to 2 per cent of pregnant women tested positive, so it is a high-incidence area.

In Hubei, there was just one positive sample being found among every 2,000 to 3,000 pregnant women. So I and other experts suggested to the government that we should treat the MTCT of AIDS, hepatitis B and syphilis together. This suggestion has already been accepted by the government. We started the joint prevention of these three diseases in 1,100 towns this year.

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