A Child With H.I.V., Shunned by His Entire Village By DAN LEVIN DECEMBER 21, 2014 Rosy-cheeked, with a mop of black hair and big smile, Kun Kun, 8, just wants to be like the other kids in his village. But because he is H.I.V. positive, his neighbors have denied him the most basic joys of childhood. “Nobody plays with me, so I play alone,” he said, according to a report Wednesday on the website of the People’s Daily newspaper, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party. Shocking ignorance of the disease has prompted more than 200 villagers in the southwestern province of Sichuan — including the boy’s guardian — to sign a petition calling for the boy’s expulsion. “Kunkun is diagnosed with AIDS, causing great fear among the villagers and village children. In order to ensure the safety of villagers and children, we demand that authorities quarantine Kunkun for treatment,” reads the petition, which is marked by residents’ thumbprints. After the boy was diagnosed with H.I.V. in 2011, he was expelled from school and shunned by the villagers. Though the Chinese government frequently proclaims that China is a nation of laws, the case highlights the gap between law and implementation, since China’s national AIDS regulations technically forbid such discrimination toward those with H.I.V. But the law appears to mean little in China’s rural hinterlands, where ignorance and fear appear to reign supreme. “He’s a ticking time bomb,” said a villager, He Jialing, whose daughter is a pupil at the boarding school that children attend. “What happens if the kids are on their way home and made contact with him? Or get bitten by him? This child is simply too dangerous.” The boy, who was given a pseudonym by the Chinese media to protect his identity, contracted the disease in utero from his mother, a migrant worker who left the village in 2006 and has not returned. The boy’s guardian says neither she nor the guardian’s son, who is her boyfriend but not the boy’s father, has contacted the family since they found out about his condition. Neither she nor the guardian’s son does anything to help the child. “Three years, not even a phone call, let alone sending money home,” the guardian said. While the local authorities pay for the boy’s medication, his neighbors’ naked hostility is likely to cause far more harm. “I hate him and hate his disease,” said another villager. “When he came to visit my home, I gave him food to eat. Later, I threw away the bowl he ate with.” The boy’s plight has sparked outrage online, which has turned up the pressure on local officials responsible for the child’s care. According to the newspaper, the local authorities have started a “thought education” campaign intended to change hearts and minds in the village. “He grew up in the village and he’s just a kid,” said a local township official, who would only give his surname, Ji, in a telephone interview. “I think a lot of villagers are just worried or scared, and they also feel he deserves proper care and treatment.” About 780,000 people are living with H.I.V./AIDS in China, according to the most recent estimate by Unaids, the United Nations agency fighting the disease, in 2011. Many have been fired from their jobs and evicted from their homes simply for having the disease, advocates for people with H.I.V. say. “In China, this kind of banishment —like a grown man forced to leave his job, or an AIDS patient being refused treatment — these things happen sometimes,” said Zhang Beichuan, a member of the AIDS Expert Advisory Committee under China’s Ministry of Health. China’s State Council has passed regulations meant to protect those with H.I.V./AIDS from discrimination. “But in reality, when family members learn of such things, it will spread everywhere, and you can’t do anything about that,” Mr. Zhang said. Chen Jiehao contributed research. 0 COMMENTS, SAVE SHARE This was in todays new york times
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 07:52:27 +0000