Study: Misconceptions "Still Cause AIDS Stigma" in China

This online article reviews results of a survey on HIV/AIDS prevention, transmission, and stigma in China. According to the sources of the survey, the resulting statistics on AIDS-related knowledge and behaviour among the Chinese indicated that misconceptions and discrimination remain at a high level despite years of public education efforts. The survey was jointly conducted by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, the China HIV/AIDS Media Partnership, Renmin University, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The survey included more than 6,000 students, white- and blue-collar workers, and migrant workers. Interviews were conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, and Kunming. Although 80 percent of the respondents knew that HIV can be transmitted through contaminated syringes or unprotected sex, 18 percent thought they could contract HIV by having an HIV-positive person sneeze or cough on them; 48 percent believed that a mosquito bite could transmit the AIDS virus; and 16 percent believed they could get infected by sharing a cup or eating with an HIV-positive person.

As a result of these misconceptions, unwillingness to associate with an HIV-positive person in the following situations was reflected in the corresponding percentages of respondents:

1. 65 percent said they did not want to live in the same household;
2. 47.8 percent would be unwilling to associate at meals;
3. 41.3 percent would be unwilling to be a co-worker; and
4. 30 percent objected to HIV-positive students being allowed to study with healthy students, though 57.9 percent approved.

As of the end of 2007, there were about 700,000 people living with HIV in China, according to statistics of the Ministry of Health. It is estimated that 85,000 of them have developed AIDS. Sexual transmission has become the most common means of HIV infections in China. However, the survey found that nearly 30 percent of respondents did not know how to use a condom correctly, and only 19 percent said they would use a condom if they had sex with a new partner. As many as 57.2 percent of young respondents, aged 15-24 years old, said they did not know how to use condoms correctly. Nearly 42 percent of migrant workers, who are usually considered to be at a higher risk of contracting HIV, said they had no idea where they could receive health check-ups, including HIV-status testing. About half of the interviewees believed that HIV/AIDS was a serious problem in China, but 88 percent regarded their personal risk of contracting HIV as zero.

The article concludes that the Chinese need to get more information about HIV tests and that the need for further HIV/AIDS-related information is evident because, though people know that HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex, many still do not protect themselves with a condom when engaging in risky behaviour. In addition, public misconceptions surrounding AIDS cause discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in China.