Stigma reduction is a key part of HIV work in China because it is vital to increase testing and raise awareness of a virus that can affect anyone. However, as the majority of cases are currently in high risk groups such as injecting drug users, many people in traditional Chinese society are intolerant of those affected.
Liang Donghai and Huang Wen Chao
©InfoDressed completely in brown loose clothes, Liang looked like he was still an inmate at one of Nanning’s detention centres for injecting drug users. The former heroin addict and father-of-one is now on methadone replacement therapy but his future seems bleak. Like most cases in Guangxi province in south China, Liang contracted HIV from sharing needles.
His 32-year-old wife, Huang Wen Chao, met a similar fate. She says she took drugs “out of curiosity” and like her husband ended up in a rehabilitation detention centre. That was three years ago. The couple now have a healthy one-year-old but they have no jobs and find it difficult paying the rent.
Due to their own situation, they are keen to ensure other drug users don’t follow in their footsteps. They both volunteer as Red Cross peer educators visiting detention centres to talk about their experiences and informing inmates about how HIV can be prevented.
“I have seen so many people affected by drugs and HIV,” Liang said. “I have witnessed their difficulties and their deaths which is why I want to help prevent people contracting HIV.”
He described how the vast majority of people released from detention relapse. Some are then sent to do hard labour at other detention centres. The government policy is providing methadone replacement therapy but many don’t stick to it because they feel hopeless about their future as they can rarely get employment.
“When you apply for a job, you have to fill in a health certificate,” he said. “Often they do blood tests which will find out if you have HIV. Many employers won’t give you a job if you are HIV positive.”
The stigma and discrimination against people with HIV is not just among employers but the general public. Hence they asked if they could be photographed from the back. Huang said HIV positive people are not tolerated in the community.
“We have to move around a lot. When neighbours find out you have HIV they don’t want you living near them,” she said. “We just want to live peacefully and not be treated like lepers.”