A controversial bill that is being proposed in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will, if passed, make real-name HIV testing and disclosure compulsory. Under the regulation, which is still in draft form, HIV-positive patients would have to  inform their partners of their status within three days of receiving test results, failing which this would be done by health workers. more ›

In a bid to boost the capital's blood supplies, Beijing Municipal Health Bureau has announced that the amount of blood university students donate will affect their academic grades. Supplies have been critically low since last winter, partially due to public mistrust caused by the Guo Meimei scandal. more ›

Written by Singaporean playwright Alfian Sa'at and directed by Royston Tan more ›

Today is World AIDS Day, and the theme this year is "Getting to Zero" (zero infections, zero discrimination, zero AIDS-related deaths). HIV and AIDS is not perceived as an epidemic in China, but the number of cases has been rising in recent years. News outlets are running a variety of stories bringing statistics and anecdotes from around China and we've collected them here for your perusal: more ›

Chinese-language edition of a campaign by Action for Aids, Singapore for World Aids Day 2011. more ›

A hepatitis epidemic believed to be caused by intravenous injections has broken out along the Henan-Anhui border. more ›

A 14-year-old boy is the only pupil studying at a village school near Dandong (丹东) in Liaoning province. His surname is Feng, and he is HIV-positive. He has been suffering from discrimination by his fellow villagers, and was rejected by the local elementary school. However, in the elementary school set up specifically for him, he enjoys complete freedom from discrimination. This is because there are only two people in the school: Feng, who is 14 years old, and Wang Lijun, 63 years old who teaches Feng and plays with him. more ›

According to the latest official statistics released by the Ministry of Health, around one in three cases of HIV involve gay or bisexual men in China, where the AIDS epidemic is becoming increasingly prevalent. more ›

Prominent HIV/AIDS activist and Sakharov Prize winner Hu Jia (胡佳) may have been freed from a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence for state subversion, but he continues to remain technically under house arrest, with security guards following him wherever he goes. more ›

Zeng Jinyan (曾金燕), wife of jailed AIDS activist Hu Jia (胡佳), has reemerged after a one-day disappearance that took the local AIDS activist community by surprise. more ›

A study funded by China's National Centre for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention found that those infected with HIV through drug use or sex, are more than twice as likely to die than those who got the virus from a blood transfusion. To be exact, 6.7 out of a 100 people infected by blood transfusions die, compared to 15.9 deaths for drug users and 17.5 for those infected through sex. more ›

33-year-old "Chu Cao" or "Weeding" (锄草) was diagnosed with Hepatitis B in 1994 and has spent the past year campaigning across China to improve knowledge about the disease. In each of the 23 cities she has visited so far, she holds up a sign offering to buy dinner for whoever is willing to eat with her: more ›

Ex-official Chen Bingzhong, who suffers from terminal liver cancer, has issued a letter calling on the government to come clean about a blood selling scandal that infected up to 100,000 people with HIV in the 1990s (an estimate that, if correct, would make up over 1/7 of all infections to date.) Distributed by the Beijing Aizhixing Institute, the letter pushes for an open investigation into the incident where villagers in Henan were infected via donation and transfusion practices between 1992 and 2004: "Collectors paid villagers to give their blood, pooled it without testing for HIV or anything else, extracted the valuable plasma then re-injected the blood back into those who sold it." Yeesh. What's worse, at least 10 victims have been sent to labor camps for attempting to receive reparations. Yet another example of the government attempting to protect it's image by simply damaging it further. more ›

Today is Global AIDS Day, so we thought we'd take a look at the state of HIV/AIDS in China and some of the important developments that have taken place over the last year. Bad news first: the total number of AIDS deaths in China jumped a crazy 20,000 from last October to now, putting the total deaths on record at 68,315, according to figures released earlier this week. While the jump in numbers is most likely due to more accurate recording methods, the government has promised to respond by stepping up screening for the disease and education campaigns among at-risk groups. more ›

Could wolf-berry and ginseng be the answer to the AIDS pandemic or are we dealing with another wild exaggeration? A three-year medical trial at Guang'anmen Hospital, using Chinese medicine to combat HIV/AIDS, has announced a breakthrough in their studies. more ›

While China has made strides in the fight against AIDS and AIDS patient rights (most recently in a country-wide campaign starring Yao Ming), there is still a lot they could do better - especially, when it comes to their treatment of AIDS NGOs and charities. Joe Amon of the LA Times argues that too many international bodies look at China's handling too uncritically, praising its response on paper while ignoring how it harasses and even jails AIDS activists. more ›

Wan Yanhai (万延海), founder of the Beijing-based Aizhixing Institute and one of the most outspoken HIV/AIDS activists in China has arrived in Philadelphia with his wife and daughter after hiding out in Hong Kong and Guangzhou for two weeks. more ›

Yikes! Syphilis, a killer disease which was almost eliminated in the 1960's has returned with a startling vengeance. As state policy has shifted focus onto HIV/AIDs prevention, China has been left without a comprehensive public STI screening programme. Health expert Paul Causey also cites the issue of screening married gay and bisexual men, many of whom remain deeply closeted and hard to reach. In addition, a booming economy means "both businessmen and migrant labourers [have] more cash and opportunity to pay for unsafe sex while away from home" and this has led to the shocking rise of maternal syphilis in China. more ›

It's not easy being an activist in China, just ask Ray Mahoney. more ›

That's right. It's now official. The ban on foreigners with HIV/AIDS from entering the country has now been lifted just in time for the Shanghai Expo, and the move has already been applauded by UNAIDS and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. Maybe we'll get to see Robert Dessaix for next year's Shanghai International Literary Festival? more ›

Though I was more than happy to hear that Paul French would once again get a chance to talk about Shanghai's sordid past (and that, despite the amount of time he had to prepare for it, it was "very entertaining") , it was disheartening to learn why Robert Dessaix, the author French subbed for at the Shanghai International Literary Festival this weekend, couldn't come - because somebody in the visa office didn't like how Dessaix was HIV-positive. more ›

• The internet has collected Mao Zedong's 12 Time Magazine covers. Check them out here. [Chinasmack]
• If you must gamble, it's probably better to do it in Macao rather than a shady casino across the border in Laos. Apparently those will torture you until you pay off your debts. [China Hush]
• While China's economic strategy over the past two decades has been incredibly successful for China, the possibility of it working for anyone else is... nil. [New York Times]

Feeling a bit lonely this winter? Now you can add a new addition to your life! Shanghai residents can adopt stray cats from the Botanic Gardens. Even better, they will desex them for you. Aww, how puurrfect. [Shanghai Daily] The second wave of H1N1 vaccines is now available for college students and those over 60 in Shanghai. Too bad we still don't know the long term implications. [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Because World Aids Day happens only once every 365 days, our fifth and final post on the subject today is a roundup of news reports from other media outlets:
• Xinhua has an intriguing report on the 72 year old Dr Gui Xien, who was one of the first medical practitioners to blow the whistle on Hubei province's AIDS village, Shangcai, in 1999. Early on in the epidemic, Dr Gui was driven out from village to village by local Hubei authorities. Today, he is a VIP.
• Meanwhile, another even more famous whistle-blower, the indefatigable award-winning 82 year old activist Dr Gao Yaojie (高耀潔), has finally fled to the safety of the United States, after many years of harrassment and imprisonment. She will be meeting with top US officials today in Washington to address the AIDS situation in China. Gao has just published a new book which makes public the 10,000 letters she received from HIV/AIDS patients over the years.
• China Daily reports on the plight of a 27 year old HIV-positive counsellor with an AIDS programme who has decided to call it a day with his work there because the ¥1,500 stipend he gets per month does not help him survive in Beijing.

In light of World AIDS Day, the Shanghai health bureau has reported that from January to November 20, 886 people have been diagnosed as HIV positive, 392 people have become AIDS patients, and 25 people have died from AIDS. Unfortunately, these numbers represent an increase from last year, although 72% of new HIV cases were people from outside Shanghai. The good news is that, at at 2 per 10,000 people versus 5 per 10,000 people, the HIV prevalence rate is still lower in Shanghai than the rest of the country. To help combat unsafe sex (the leading reason for HIV/AIDS infections now), the government is helping us by installing condom vending machines in all public places prior to the Expo. So remember to stay safe and promote awareness.
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As we told you two times already, today is World Aids Day, and Yunnan officials have blown our minds with their uncanny ability to think outside the box in a move that promises to redefine "socialism with Chinese characteristics" — they've spent ¥120,000 in public funds to open up a "gay bar" in picturesque and touristy Dali, one of China's top ten cities most afflicted by Aids. more ›

It's World AIDS Day! In case you didn't know, World AIDS day is about "raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education" regarding AIDS around the world. So, to do our part, here's a heartbreaking piece on the difficulties of children with HIV in China: they're banned from schools and many are abandoned by their parents and left to live and die in AIDS orphanages. Around 10,000 children in China are HIV-positive, mostly due to bad blood transfusions or mother-to-child transmission. Remember, you can do your part too: get involved! more ›

Happy World AIDS Day! China's golden boy and long-time Houston Rockets player Yao Ming has agreed to join the United Nation's push to address discrimination among Chinese people towards those infected with HIV. The new awareness campaign follows the release of the first UNAIDS HIV/AIDS report in China last month, the results of which demonstrated the significant stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS in China's medical field as well as the general population. more ›

The World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations HIV/AIDS campaign, or UNAIDS for short (good acronym, right?), was formally released yesterday for the first time in China. Though the report only shows cases reported by medical facilities and could thus be far higher, the dissemination is a major step in understanding and fighting AIDS in the country. more ›