|
"Shanghai playing it safe over HIV/AIDS
fears"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(28/04/07)
The local authority blankets the city
with red oval-shaped condom vending machines in a bid to cap and rein in an
alarming rise in HIV/AIDS cases.
SHANGHAI will not take things for granted. Despite the fact that the number
of HIV/AIDS cases remains under control, the municipal government will
continue to promote safe sex and curb drug abuse.
As at the end of last year, the city had 2,313 confirmed HIV/AIDS victims,
with 718 HIV carriers and 53 AIDS patients detected over the year, an
increase of 68.9% over 2005.
Shanghai health officials said since the detection of the first HIV/AIDS
victim in the city in 1987, the number of reported cases had increased
substantially, and there were 100 deaths.
HIV/AIDS transmission is mainly through unprotected sex and shared use of
drug injection needles.
The most obvious effort taken by the municipal government I can see is
making condoms available easily to the public.
When I first arrived in Shanghai a few months ago, I was intrigued by the
red oval-shaped boxes placed along pedestrian walkways, but it didn’t take
me long to figure out that they are condom vending machines.
The machines can be found affixed to the walls of houses and shops on major
roads, placed every other few hundred metres apart. The machine is easy to
use and for one yuan (44 sen) you get a locally made condom, cheaper than
available from convenience stores.
A friend who is a regular visitor to entertainment venues lauds the move,
describing it as a good idea, as the government has yet to completely stop
illegal sex activities.
“The number of new cases detected last year was the highest in a single
year. The high-risk cause of the disease remains commonly known,” Shanghai
Health Bureau vice-director Cai Wei said at a recent press conference to
announce the government’s new three-year plan to combat the epidemic.
“Illegal sexual activities still prevail at entertainment venues even though
we have worked with the police to crack down on them. There is still much to
be done.”
He said that over the year the government had promoted safe sex by
installing condom vending machines at public places and educating high
school students on healthy living.
“Health education is now a compulsory subject for high school students.
Compared with other parts of China, we have controlled the spread of
HIV/AIDS quite effectively, but we cannot take things for granted; and that
is why prevention efforts will remain an important agenda for the bureau,”
he said.
According to a recent Shanghai Daily report, there will be condom vending
machines in all entertainment spots and residential areas in three to five
years.
Almost 2,000 entertainment outlets have condom vending machines and there
are free condom distribution machines at some 4,800 other venues. Together
they dispensed more than 600,000 condoms and 700,000 brochures last year.
Neighbourhood representatives had also visited 79% of 13,000 venues such as
karaoke bars and foot massage parlours to distribute condoms and safe-sex
brochures.
Cai said: “In hotels, we distribute free condoms or request them to install
condom vending machines. The respective district governments have their own
budget to maintain these machines.
“Maybe we will further carry out this campaign in schools and other places
to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.”
Only 30% of females offering sex services in hair salons, massage parlours
and karaoke bars use condoms, the newspaper quoted a survey conducted in
Shanghai’s Minhang district by officials with the Shanghai Centre for
Disease Prevention and Control.
Under a national law on AIDS prevention and control effective March last
year, city health officials can provide education to employees of such
outlets, and the operators must provide condoms or condom vending machines.
Errant operators are liable to a fine of between 500 yuan (RM220) and 5,000
yuan (RM2,200) and can lose their business licence.
Information on sex workers’ health conditions, understanding of AIDS, access
to condoms and type of education they were willing to accept is being
gathered by the centre to help come up with concrete guidelines to tackle
the problem.
The city has more than 20,000 hair salons, spas, massage and bath parlours
and karaoke bars. Some workers at these places have been found to be
offering sex services. Prostitutes and drug addicts are the people most
likely to be infected with the disease in the city.
To address the problem, the government is to set up three more drug
rehabilitation centres this year in addition to the present five, continue
to promote the methadone treatment to control the number of drug addicts, as
well as reduce other risks caused by drug abuse.
Between 1985, when AIDS was first detected in China, and last year, Beijing,
the country’s capital, recorded an estimated 12,000 HIV/AIDS cases, the
victims contracting the disease mainly through drug injection, sexual
intercourse, blood transmission, and from mother to infant.
In January last year, the Chinese government, World Health Organisation and
United Nations jointly estimated that 650,000 of the 1.3 billion population
have HIV or are infected with AIDS.
China wants to keep the number of HIV infections to less than 1.5 million by
2010.
 Back to
News Page
|
