Campaign for anonymous HIV tests

Updated:22/02/12 11:39:50 AM CST

Two groups have launched campaign to end a proposed rule that would require people getting tested for HIV to give their real name, the Beijing Times reported.

Justice for All, an NGO based in Nanjing, Jiangsu province has written to the Ministry of Health calling for an immediate end to the proposed rule.

Meanwhile, another NGO, China Alliance of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), has drafted a letter proposing ending the draft legislation, which will soon be sent to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"The real-name HIV test is sure to lead to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment going backward, because anonymous tests at least can encourage potential carriers to take tests while a real-name test is bound to make them reluctant to take tests," says Yu Fangqiang, executive director of Justice for All.

"In the current social environment, it's an undoubted fact that HIV carriers' equal rights with healthy people are not guaranteed," said Meng Lin with China Alliance of PLWHA. The real-name test will break the last defense for HIV/AIDs carriers' privacy, he added.

Wang Yu, director of the CDC, said he believes that real-name testing could ensure those who test positive are informed in time, allowing them to change their behavior and seek early treatment.

Meanwhile, the real-name system will keep related people informed of the patient's condition and accordingly take necessary measures to avoid dangerous acts and therefore cut the spread of the disease, Wang added.

Source:chinahumanrights.org