Guangzhou hospital shoulders burden, pushes for subsidies and more awareness

"Make sure you are wearing a condom whenever you have sex with him."

That's what Chen Kaijie, deputy director of the infectious diseases department of Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital, told a young Chinese woman he saw on the street with a man he recognized as one of his African AIDS patients.

He said the words in Cantonese so that the man would not understand. But the man must have sensed something unusual, Chen said, because he quickly ran away with the woman.

Chen receives most of the hospital's foreign patients, mostly Africans who conduct business in the southern boomtown. There are more than 100 Africans being treated among the 7,500 AIDS patients, most of whom are Chinese, in Guangzhou.

Nationally, it is estimated that 570,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS.

Starting in 2008, the hospital began to receive more African sufferers - mostly males at first, Chen said. A majority of them had become infected via heterosexual partners and were in their 30s.

There are 20,000 Africans living in Guangzhou, according to official data, which some believe is an underestimate. And for those suffering HIV/AIDS, getting treatment can be a challenge.

"We need to improve their treatment access. The virus knows no nationality," said Cai Weiping, head of the infectious diseases department.

Due to rising civilian interaction, more African males in Guangzhou have begun to pair up with local Chinese women.

"We once had a patient who died from serious infections, and his Chinese wife and baby son were by his side," Cai said.

Chen said awareness of available treatments is not high, and adherence to medication is generally poor among the highly mobile African patients who frequently travel back and forth between Africa and China.

Many patients, especially those without health insurance, were late in seeking treatment and were suffering serious infections such as pneumonia. But "the deaths, in fact, could be avoided", Chen said.

To help, the hospital has partnered with the local African chamber of commerce to organize HIV/AIDS prevention lectures and free testing events.

More importantly, they have also been trying to raise money from China and abroad to subsidize the treatment of African patients who cannot afford to pay, Chen said.

Within the hospital, a special visiting time has been set for African patients, with interpreting services in English, French and Portuguese.

"Enhanced access helps with their health and treatment and with the overall HIV/AIDS intervention efforts here," he said, urging more attention and targeted measures by local government.

Currently, China offers free AIDS treatment for its own citizens, but foreigners in the country are not covered, said Wu Zunyou, head of the National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control and Prevention.

Wu said China has detected roughly 1,500 foreigners suffering HIV/AIDS in the past three years, mostly in Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian.

Catherine Sozi, country director of UNAIDS China, said medical attention is difficult for foreigners in China, even those with minor problems.

"Getting medical help is a problem for foreigners, and I can imagine those living with HIV and seeking help face more challenges," she said.

Wang Xiaodong contributed to this story.

Mobile app promotes HIV prevention, testing

Xiao Chen, 24, has a daily routine of visiting Blued, a networking app for gay men on his phone, and thumbing through new threads in the "Hot Topics" forum.

"I like topics such as sports, coffee and astrology, and always fight back when someone denounces us Geminis as wanton playboys," he said. He started a relationship he considered serious with another man via the app.

"When we saw the banner for free HIV testing that can be booked on the platform, we decided to go get tested together, kind of a testimony to our love, which is serious and we hope will last a long time," he said.

Xiao Chen is one of a rising number of young gay men who are turning to social networking platforms for HIV/AIDS prevention information and services such as free testing.

According to Han Han, Blued social responsibility director, since the free HIV testing service began, it performed more than 6,500 tests for gay men.

For that, they've opened four HIV/AIDS consulting offices in Beijing, including one in the Blued office, and they are also open on weekends to make it easier for users.

"Thanks to collaboration with public health departments, we've got financial support for doing that," he said, adding that to encourage HIV testing, the users are given small gifts such as free condoms or lubricant.

Xiao Chen said the visit to the testing office was stress-free: "We're in the same boat, and they understand us well. It's very different from getting tested in government-run clinics."

To rally more support from other anti-AIDS societies, Blued has launched a Social Good Platform to facilitate HIV-AIDS intervention efforts delivered by volunteer peer groups.

Useful information on such matters as disease prevention, techniques for revealing one's HIV status to the partner and protected sex can be disseminated via the online platforms, "making the intervention user-friendly, private and entertaining," said Han Han.

shanjuan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/30/2015 page7)