UNAIDS and US CDC officials fall over themselves to praise China's efforts in response to HIV. Yet in many ways the Sinic response is way behind Burma / Myanmar ...

China says it will stop using carrying condoms as evidence to put women in detention centres but will now undertake mandatory immigration testing ... This isn't a Great Leap Forward. It is more like one step forward, two back.

[him] moderator

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China to stop arresting women for carrying condoms
Agence France-Presse
Posted date: November 30, 2007

BEIJING -- Chinese police are to stop arresting women who carry condoms, traditionally seen as evidence of prostitution, in an effort to help curb the spread of AIDS, state press said Friday.

Despite efforts to stop the practice, women in China are still being sent to labor camps for prostitution offences merely because they were carrying condoms when detained by police, the report said, quoting an expert.

"We have investigated many education-through-labor camps and we have found that for those sentenced for prostitution, the sole evidence was that they possessed condoms," Xinhua quoted the unnamed expert as telling an AIDS conference here.

The comment appeared to contradict remarks by Han Mengjie, a senior official at the cabinet-level AIDS prevention office, who was quoted by Xinhua as saying a campaign to end the practice was put in place as early as in 2001.

"In 2001, the propaganda bureau and the police issued a joint directive that as for the use of condoms, they would not be considered evidence," said Han.

"As far as I know, since we started our AIDS awareness campaign and consulted with the police ministry, police throughout China have stopped using condoms as evidence."

China is estimated to have about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases, with tens of thousands of new infections each year.

An increasing number of infections are due to heterosexual contact and not drug use, which was formerly the main channel of the disease here.

Police in China enjoy extraordinary powers to deal with minor crime, and are allowed to convict and sentence suspects to up to two years in labor camps, without trial.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view_article.php?article_id=104075

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Chinese to undergo compulsory HIV testing if abroad for more than
one year
Xinhua News Agency, 1 December 2007

Chinese people who live abroad for more than a year will have to
take an HIV test on their return, according to a regulation which
takes effect on Saturday, the World AIDS Day.

The regulation on the cross-border control and prevention of AIDS
was issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) back in May.

Chinese citizens will be required to take an HIV test at the border
when he or she enters the country, or apply for a HIV test form at
the border and take the test at qualified local hospitals within a
month.

Foreigners wanting to stay in China for more than a year will also
be required to take an HIV test and show the results to the public
security departments when applying for a residence certificate.

Chinese employees working for international transport services, such
as airlines, cross-border bus and train services will also have to
take HIV tests.

On the other hand, China is relaxing restrictions on HIV carriers
visiting the country from overseas.

"China has started revising the current laws and regulations that
ban HIV carriers from entering the country," health ministry
spokesman Mao Qun'an said earlier this month.

China issued the Law on Control of the Entry and Exit of Aliens in
1985, regulating that foreigners with infectious diseases such as
leprosy, HIV/AIDS and venereal disease were not allowed to enter the
country.

"According to the transmissive nature of HIV/AIDS and our current
evaluation of the harmfulness of HIV carriers, we have decided to
revise laws and regulations that ban HIV carriers' from entering the
country," Mao said.

But he didn't say when and how the laws would be revised.

The new regulation to take effect on Saturday said that HIV-positive
people, Chinese and foreigners, shall report to the quarantine
authority when entering China. The authority will inform the local
disease control and prevention departments after confirming the
report.

A report issued by China's Ministry of Health, the World Health
Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS said that by the end of October 2007,
a total of 223,501 people had been officially reported to carry HIV
in China, including 62,838 AIDS patients.

The real figures are estimated at 85,000 AIDS patients and 700,000
people living with HIV/AIDS.

Globally, 2.5 million people have been diagnosed with HIV so far in
2007, with a total of 33.2 million living with the virus.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/6313052.html