On the evening of October 14, Zhang Dexuan, vice-mayor of
Zhumadian, a city in Central China's Henan Province, said he was
moved to tears as hundreds of people warmly applauded him and
fellow officials as they settled down in a theater.
The officials were attending an operatic performance in Shangcai
County, one of the three counties of Zhumadian that were seriously
affected by HIV/AIDS in the early 1990s.
The show concerned the story of an HIV carrier that went from
being in despair after suffering discrimination to regaining
confidence with the support of neighbors, officials and health
workers.
"What happened in the opera has happened in reality here," Zhang
told China Daily in the theater.
"For such a change we have paid a lot in the past 10 years. I am
happy that this audience, including healthy residents and HIV
carriers, can now calmly sit with each other and with local
officials in the theater."
This scene would have been unimaginable just a few years ago,
the vice-mayor said.
"I liked the opera performed in the local language and
understand what the story is about," an elderly woman said.
She added that this was the first time she had seen the
well-known actors and actresses on stage.
"I really appreciate the local government. Everything I need,
from medicine to watching such a performance, is free."
After the performance the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous,
volunteered that she is an HIV/AIDS patient from Wenlou Village and
is currently being treated at the county-level hospital.
The root of the problem
Wenlou has made headlines in the past 10 years because of the
HIV/AIDS infection there. It is one of the 22 villages of Shangcai
that have been plagued by the deadly virus.
The county has a population of 1.37 million. In all, 6,767
HIV/AIDS cases have been reported.
The majority of these cases were caused by unsafe blood sales in
the early 1990s.
These HIV carriers began to contract AIDS in the following
years, with deaths peaking around the year 2000.
The death toll shocked villagers with little knowledge of
HIV/AIDS, especially as they had sold blood only to raise a little
extra money for their poor families.
Residents were understandably frightened and angry, turning
against society at large and particularly the authorities that
should have been ensuring their safety.
Into this crisis stepped Zhang, who was approved as vice-mayor
and put in charge of HIV/AIDS control in January 2001.
At that time, officials and health workers felt anxious about
providing medical services and other support to villagers,
according to Zhang.
"It was really a hard time, and the biggest and most urgent
problem was that there was no effective medicine to control the
deaths," said Zhang.
Nie Yong, director of the HIV/AIDS control office of Zhumadian
government, said villagers would often gather before the gates of
government offices, hospitals and clinics to seek help.
"At that time, I was the vice head of Shangcai County. It is
common for villagers to suddenly break into my office to ask for
medicine and support," Nie said in front of a house in Wenlou.
HIV carriers stood in the sunshine with Nie, listening to
him.
"I went to Nie's office and even sat on his table disturbing his
work to ask for help," said 37-year-old Cheng Dongdong, an assumed
name.
"I really understood them so I just tried my best to take care
of them at that time," Nie said.
The chaotic situation gradually improved as governments at
various levels devoted more resources to treating patients and
considering their family lives, Zhang said.
Especially since the central government began to provide free
anti-virus medicines, so-called "cocktail treatments," to villagers
in 2003, the death rate has reduced rapidly.
Many AIDS patients that were very ill and weak began to return
to the fields and lead relatively normal lives.
Cheng Dongdong, who has been infected with the virus for 10
years, works as well as any other villager.
"It is really a great thing that all the villagers and HIV/AIDS
sufferers in Shangcai and the whole of Henan Province now have
returned to normal and calm lives after years of chaos and terror,"
said vice mayor Zhang.
Treatment and welfare
Apart from the free anti-virus medicines, Cheng enjoys timely
treatment for any disease resulting from the deadly virus free of
charge at the clinic based in the village.
The clinic, which was established by the local government in
June 2001 and was renovated in the middle of 2004, covers an area
of 800 square meters, has 12 doctors and 40 beds.
The clinic provides public health education programs, HIV
testing, anti-virus treatment, mental care, and general medical
care for the 380 HIV carriers and 2,700 other villagers.
Those that are seriously ill are sent to county-level
hospitals.
In the village, 1,427 people sold blood in the 1990s. Of these,
431 people contracted the virus and so far 51 have died.
At the time, selling blood was considered an easy way of making
money and even a symbol of good health, said Ding Xiang, the
assumed name of a 34-year-old HIV carrier.
She would sell blood at the stations set up at the entrance to
the village.
"Before all the blood stations were closed at the end of the
1990s, I had sold blood for at least seven years," said Cheng
Zhishu, the assumed name of a 52-year-old man.
Each time, Cheng gave 300 milliliters of blood and would be paid
36 yuan (US$4).
In 1998, doctors told him and his wife, who also sold blood,
that they were infected with HIV. The money they had earned was
soon spent on treating various diseases resulting from the
virus.
Faced with death and poverty, Cheng and others went to
government offices to highlight their plight.
Finally the free anti-virus medicines saved his life in 2003. A
team dispatched by the provincial government to his village also
gave him money to start breeding pigs last year.
Cheng now has 20 pigs, and half of them will be sold at a market
this year.
The team, one of those organized by the provincial government
and sent to the 38 villages seriously affected by the disease, has
been stationed in the village since early 2004.
Several officials from various departments of the provincial
government have joined the teams to research care programs for
families affected by HIV/AIDS.
The 27 orphans and two elderly people left behind after the
deaths of AIDS patients in Wenlou have been well cared for. Each
receives at least 160 yuan (US$20) a month from the government.
Some have been taken in by other families, which will also be
rewarded by the government for their kindness.
Two large homes near the villages have been established for the
others.
The government taskforce has also introduced running water,
improved primary schools, built roads and better houses for
villagers.
Several centers for breeding chicken and pigs and
feed-processing plants have been established to boost the
development of the local economy.
The Zhumadian Yongyuan Technology Feed-Processing Plant, based
in Wenlou Village, has realized a profit of 16 million yuan (US$2
million) since September 2004.
Among the 68 employees, 46 are from HIV-affected families or HIV
carriers themselves, said Xie Xuezhong, president of the plant.
(China Daily November 4, 2005)