HIV-infected boy expelled from his village

Expulsion of an HIV-positive boy in China: school ban, exclusion and discrimination

19/12/2014

A boy with the AIDS-causing HI virus was expelled from his Chinese hometown because of his illness. For this purpose, the 200 villagers had made a collection of signatures, to whose signatories even the father and the grandfather belonged. The infected boy is just eight years old. In China itself, the incident sparked a wave of indignation. But the problem is a society as a whole. In China, HIV and AIDS patients in schools, clinics and workplaces are discriminated against and sometimes severely marginalized.

HIV-positive boy was expelled from his village for fear of contracting
„Nobody plays me, I play alone ", quotes the news agency „AFP“ the little Kunkun from the Chinese state press. Since the announcement of his HIV infection in 2011, the boy is no longer allowed to go to school, has no friends and even his grandfather, in whom the eight-year-olds lived so far, should have turned away from him. The petition, which expelled the child from the village, was signed by 200 citizens „To protect the health of the villagers, "Chinese media said Thursday „time bomb“ designated. Although the boy is sorry for the villagers, says Wang Yishu, chairman of the Communist Party in Shufangya Village, the HIV infection is „too scary for us, "quotes the news agency from the newspaper.

The eight-year-old, according to a report of the state newspaper „Global Times "infected with his mother with the HI virus." She left the family in 2006. Also, the father has no contact with his son ".

According to the news agency "are currently outraged many Chinese in the Twitter counterpart „Sina Weibo“."There is talk of reckless neglect and unfair treatment, and in China, people living with HIV or AIDS would often cause panic among their fellow human beings because there is insufficient education about the disease." According to official Chinese authorities, since the discovery of HIV in the US Year 1985 497,000 infected persons registered.

People living with HIV and AIDS are still being discriminated against in China
The behavior of the villagers, especially the relatives of the boy, seems heartless and unjust from a Western point of view. Nevertheless, it is not surprising to consider that HIV and AIDS sufferers have been massively discriminated against in the Chinese media for a long time. In addition, be „actively made anti-AIDS mood and scattered wild rumors“ been, „about marauding, syringe-armed HIV-infected people who infect others with intent“. Large parts of the Chinese population therefore still believed that those affected were themselves responsible for their illness. To dissolve such prejudices requires a comprehensive education of the population about HIV and AIDS. (Ag)