Fridae

The Chinese city of Suzhou in Jiangsu province has introduced new laws to protect the rights of people with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) and to control and prevent AIDS and VD in the area, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

The new Measures to Control and Prevent AIDS and VD laws which has passed on 1 October and the first of its kind in China, grants PWAs and their families are guaranteed equal employment, education, and health care rights; employers also will be denied access to AIDS patients' medical records. Children of PWAs will also have a right to education and employment under the new laws. The name, address, and private information of sufferers and their families cannot be published or broadcast.

Wang Beijing, director of the law office to the First Hospital Attached to Peking University, recounted that the Regulations on AIDS Monitoring and Management, published by the State Council in 1987, and the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, employed in 1988 is sceptical of the effectiveness of the new laws as the new bill did not detail how the PWA's civil liberties can be defended, quoting a report by the China Internet Information Center.

At the same time, the new regulation also spells out the duties and obligation of PWAs to society. People who are infected must obey the instructions of the Disease Control Department and follow the advice of their doctors.

Under the new law, if a person diagnosed with HIV/AIDS refuses treatment or monitoring, or attempts to take revenge on society in any way, he/she would be considered in severe breach of the law, which may result in a prison sentence. The general population has to undergo HIV tests as part of their health examinations before marriage and during pregnancy. It is unclear what the penalties are or if other cities will follows Suchou's lead.