Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
China, in a small, belated gesture recognising the gravity of its mounting epidemic, has taken steps to stem the further spread of HIV/AIDS in a village ravaged in an illegal blood-selling scandal.
The move comes as Chinese and foreign health officials warn the country risks having 10million AIDS cases this decade.
The Ministry of Health and local government officials have taken what the official media described as "immediate measures" to halt the transmission of HIV in Wenlou village, central Henan province.
Up to 65per cent of villagers in Wenlou contracted HIV after selling their blood for 40 yuan ($9.40) a time at private collection centres set up in the 1980s.
Their plight came to light in May when frightened villagers risked the authorities' wrath by travelling hundreds of kilometres to Beijing to plead for medicine and to press the authorities to prosecute blood traders who spread HIV through their village.
The Communist Party's People's Daily reported at the weekend that clinics had been set up in Wenlou "to provide free medical treatment to local patients, using financial allocations by governments of all levels".
The fate of Wenlou's villagers scandalised China after it was reported in the domestic and international media. It prompted a visit by the Vice-Minister of Health and the distribution of food, clothing and other necessities to the poor.
"To ease public anxiety and panic, lectures on the prevention of the disease are given by specialists using common language," the paper said. "Some methods adopted by foreign governments in fighting the epidemics have been introduced as well."
China faces an AIDS epidemic of catastrophic proportions in the coming years as infection spreads though illegal blood collection, drug abuse and prostitution.
Efforts by the Ministry of Health to deal with the crisis have often been thwarted by local officials, public ignorance and apathy in other sections of government.
The country's leading AIDS researcher, Zeng Yi, told the South China Morning Post : "Local government officials in various parts of the country are reluctant to collect data on HIV for fear that their province will be blackballed as a highly infected area."
Even though black-market blood collecting was banned in 1990, the practice continues in rural China via collectors known as "blood heads".
These operators gather the blood of several sellers. This is placed in a centrifuge and spun to separate the plasma. The leftover pooled blood is re-transfused back into the veins of the sellers.
Aside from HIV, other blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis B and C are transmitted.
In some villages 80per cent of inhabitants have been infected.
Official figures suggest about 20,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS, although unofficially experts estimate there are more than 500,000 cases nationwide.
The Ministry of Health and United Nations officials agree that without a concerted campaign China could have 10million AIDS cases by 2010.
I saw this story in the Chinese press last week. There were very few details. This correspondent has done a better job.
Another noteworthy item:
The Zimbabwe Mirror
8/03/01
Hebert Zharare
SOME senior officials in the Zimbabwe National Network for People Living with HIV/Aids (ZNNP+), one of the largest beneficiaries of the Aids Levy, have allegedly become overnight millionaires after diverting the organisation?s funds for their personal investment schemes and tactfully delaying the disbursement of money to thousands of people suffering from the disease.
The ZNNP+ is one of the largest organisations that cater for people living with HIV/Aids in Zimbabwe, and has offices in the country?s 10 administrative provinces.
The organisation has so far received more than Z$96 million from the Aids levy, meant to be distributed to its various representative groups and affiliates. However, the organisation?s Harare regional committee alleges that there were gross inconsistencies in the handling of public funds by the national secretariat, which is led by Frank Guni.
In a petition to the director of the National Aids Council (NAC), a copy of which is in possession of The Zimbabwe Mirror, the Harare regional committee has called for an immediate appointment of a commission of inquiry to investigate the alleged corruption in the ZNNP+.
The secretariat is being accused of among other things, diverting the ZNNP+ funds for personal short-term investment schemes. It is also being taken to task on allegations that the national secretariat pays rentals for two houses in Milton Park, while effectively occupying only one. ?It is sad that ZNNP+ got $96 million this year, and we have watched individuals leap from rags to riches by investing large amounts of these funds into personal accounts at the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) (Union Avenue branch) and Standard Chartered Bank (Karigamombe branch) and other (undisclosed) money securities from which profits are harvested,? reads part of the petition. Yesterday, both the Standard Chartered Bank and CBZ would not be drawn to release information on the accounts of the alleged, saying they can only do so under instructions from police investigators. The petition also alleged that the ZNNP+ co-ordinator and his colleagues were getting unrealistic salaries, prejudicing the contributors and members. Guni earns a gross salary of $110 000 per month, plus allowances and benefits, a company vehicle, fuel bills and 24-hour security guard services at his home.
In April, there was an outcry after the organisation blew up $6 million on a congress that was held in Masvingo. The money was part of a $20 million grant meant to finance the operations of the organisation?s 10 provincial offices. During the congress, it is alleged that serious matters like constitutional and policy reviews were not discussed.
?That budget had to be spent so as to qualify awarding of lucrative contracts on conference bags, T-shirts, badges and stationery to friends and relatives in those lines of business. Creative Images, of which Chitiga Mbanje has majority shares, is one of the companies that was given the tender to supply materials at the conference,? reads part of the petition.
Chitiga Mbanje is employed by the ZNNP+, and is Guni?s brother-in-law. ?We have for a long time resisted from going to the press because this can bring about a national disaster, that would immediately be followed by a national outcry probably code-named Aidsgate Scandal.
?May you (NAC) intervene as a matter of urgency by appointing a commission to temporarily run the affairs of the ZNNP+ before the bomb explodes,? reads part of the petition.
This week Guni acknowledged that a faction led by Elliot Magunje, Marry Musesengwa and the other four whose names he did not disclose sent a petition to the NAC director, complaining about alleged improprieties at the ZNNP+.
However, he however dismissed its contents as unfounded allega-tions, bent on destroying the organisation.
?There is nothing like that. As far as we are concerned, we have been properly handling all the funds we have been receiving from the NAC and other donors. Following the presentation of the petition to the NAC, a team of auditors was immediately dispatched to our organisation, but they found nothing wrong with our books,? he said.
?We are going to take legal action against these people. Right now our lawyers are working on the issue, but I cannot disclose more details.? However, investigations by The Zimbabwe Mirror revealed that a team of auditors that visited ZNNP+ were not sent to probe the allegations of misuse of funds, but on a routine exercise.
Timothy Stamps, the minister of health and child welfare, confirmed to The Zimbabwe Mirror that the ZNNP+ was under investigation.
So did Dr Everisto Marowa, the NAC director. ?We have already started looking into these allegations of abuse of public funds at the ZNNP+, and I believe we will come to its logical end within a short space of time,? he said.
?The NAC is following the appropriate procedures used when investigating cases of allegations of misuse of funds. Appropriate action will be taken based on the outcome of the investigations and the audit report that is already out.? Close sources in the NAC told The Zimbabwe Mirror that in its effort to avoid abuse of funds in the future, the NAC will from the beginning of this month disburse the Aids funds through 57 rural and 24 urban districts councils.
?This move is aimed at promoting communities that have structures to cater for people living with Aids. We will continue to disburse funds to organisations that we believe are still working with communities,? said Dr Marowa.
Under the new set up, each community-based district that caters for Aids sufferers will be allocated $20 million, used to cover the period from now up to next year.
How did the Chinese contract AIDS from donating? Did they reuse unsterile needles? Or is blood donation being blamed for unsafe sexual practices in this village?
interesting.
is this what you were telling me about, davis?
The country's leading AIDS researcher, Zeng Yi, told the South China Morning Post : "Local government officials in various parts of the country are reluctant to collect data on HIV for fear that their province will be blackballed as a highly infected area."
gays in china?
Ummmm. Re-read the article. The collected blood was pooled and had the plasma extracted. The pooled packed red cells were then transfused back into the people. Delightful, huh?
There may just be a wee bit more to it than that. Just a guess. Could be wrong.
Thanks. I missed that line. Of course, the next question is "What the F***?" What were they thinking? I hope that at the very least, they were pooling the same blood types in each batch. What's strange is why they didn't just keep the whole blood for sale? Plasma is useful, but whole blood is even more useful. I guess they told the donors that the reinjections would eliminate the normal one-day period when whole blood donors are supposed to take it easy.
The collected blood was pooled and had the plasma extracted. The pooled packed red cells were then transfused back into the people. Delightful, huh?
Yup. Just the way they did it in the Arkansas prison system.
FYI
What were they thinking?
"Profit" and "Population Reduction" both come to mind.
"What the F***?" What were they thinking?
Money. The people were a less-than-human source of money. But they'll die, you say? Oh well, lot's of other poor villages in China, let's make money.
Clinton? Chinese commies? On how they treat/think about people, there is no significant difference.
There was also one report that had higher numbers that ran once on AP as I mentioned.
I looked but didn't save it. Maybe wallaby or boyd can find it again, I can't.
There was another, not really related to HIV/AIDS (yet), situation that also just came out that had to do with "Claritin"(I think) or another Asthma drug. The FDA discovered that the drug was getting accidently mixed in manufacturing with something else. Some fatalities I believe.
But this is all an indicator of things to come, 'specially when the drugs all start coming from China. And I truly believe that'll be soon.
Profit, ya' know.
Yep, I just can't wait to get a blood transfusion from a Chinese source. I think everyone who supports the WTO should have one.
But this is all an indicator of things to come, 'specially when the drugs all start coming from China. And I truly believe that'll be soon.
Profit, ya' know.
you are referring to pharmaceuticals?????
"you are referring to pharmaceuticals??"
Along with the FeelGood Stuff.
> Plasma is useful, but whole blood is even more useful.
Whole blood donation: once every eight weeks. Plasma: twice a week -- sixteen times as much. Translate that into money and there's your story.
In the instance, the reports said that to save time and money, two donors -- of the same blood type -- would be hooked up to the plasmapheresis machine at the same time. That's direct mingling of the blood, along with dirty needles. These unhygienic practices are guaranteed to cross-contaminate the donor pool in a short time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
[
Top
|
Latest Posts
|
Latest Articles
|
Self Search
|
Add Bookmark
|
Post
|
Abuse
|
Help!
]
FreeRepublic , LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794 Forum Version 2.0a Copyright © 1999 Free Republic, LLC |