People living with HIV/AIDS in China face discrimination when accessing health care, report says

HIV-positive people living in China "are routinely being denied medical treatment in mainstream hospitals due to fear and ignorance about the disease," according to a study based on interviews with 103 people living with HIV/AIDS and 23 health care workers that was conducted by the International Labor Organization and China's National Center for STD and AIDS Prevention and Control, Reuters reports (Wee, 5/17).

According to the report, HIV-related discrimination was linked to the policies surrounding when HIV-positive individuals should get care at general clinics or at infectious disease hospitals, and worries among some hospital managers that people would choose other hospitals if they discovered the hospital provided care for people with HIV, Agence France-Presse reports. The report acknowledged that the Chinese government had identified discrimination as a problem needing a policy solution, the news agency notes, but the ILO also called for better regulation and awareness about their right to medical care among people living with HIV/AIDS (5/18).