China bans entry to people living with HIV/AIDS Beijing, NotieSe/Rafael Martinez.- The main airport in Beijing has installed control posts in which "quick" HIV/AIDS tests are taken from Chinese and foreign tourists coming into the city. People living with HIV/AIDS are denied entry due to sanitary control measures.
Airport officials assured news agency, Xinhua, that the measure is aimed at Chinese citizens who have been living in "sensible" places for more than a year, such as Africa, especially sailors. They added that foreign passengers that come through the terminal are not subjected to said test, except for those who want to work for a year or longer, then they must submit to a medical exam in China or their country of origin. This exam must show that they are not living with HIV/AIDS or another disease like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The Airport's Inspection and Quarantine Office reported that as of March of this year, 100 thousand people had "quick checks", among those they found 53 people living with HIV/AIDS, among them Carlos Lindoro, a Mexican national, who was deported when he tried to enter the country as a tourist Ignorance and discrimination Among the many problems faced by China to prevent the spread of HIV is lack of a log where infected persons are registered. It is estimated that 90% are unaware of their status. A report by Human Rights Watch states that people living with HIV/AIDS in China face stigma and discrimination. It adds that there is a large number of people living with HIV/AIDS, who are denied access to hospitals, mainly because health workers refuse to take care of them.Chinese Health Ministry acknowledges that there are close to 840 thousand people living with HIV/AIDS, while international organizations raise the number to 2 million and are certain the epidemic is out of control The Lindoro case Carlos Lindoro, a 34 year-old teacher, went to the Chinese embassy to process the necessary papers to travel there and did not encounter any problems. The application form he filled out to request the visa did not include any specific health restrictions. After a 30 hour trip, when Lindoro arrived at the airport on August 21 2004, he was detained at the Immigration area of the General Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Administration, where he was told he couldn't enter the country because he was a person living with HIV/AIDS. Those responsible for this act, stated that there is a quarantine law restriction in this country and that he would be deported as soon as possible. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. http://us.click.yahoo.com/ons1pC/lbOLAA/E2hLAA/WfTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Group Site: http://www.gaybombay.info ========================== This message was posted to the gay_bombay Yahoo! Group. Responses to messages (by clicking "Reply") will also be posted on the eGroup and sent to all members. If you'd like to respond privately to the author of any message then please compose and send a new email message to the author's email address. Post:- gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digest Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] No Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Individual Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Us:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives are at http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay%40yahoogroups.com/maillist.html Classifieds for personal advertisements are back on www.gaybombay.info site. Please exercise restraint in the language of your personal advertisement. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
