Experts give legal suggestions on China's AIDS problem
( 2003-11-11 01:09) (Xinhua)
Legal experts agreed Monday
that Chinese law needed much improvements to help prevent and control the spread
of AIDS and SARS and to stop discrimination against sufferers of HIV/AIDS.
The experts at Qinghua (Tsinghua) University AIDS and SARS Summit agreed that
laws should help create a good social environment for Aids sufferers rather than
restrict their activities forcefully.
Prof. Li Dun, executive director of the Qinghua Social Policy Research
Institute, said the existing laws gave priority to the detection and control of
HIV carriers, but "it was just the opposite to what one wished."
Prof. Li said that laws should focus on issues such as discrimination against
AIDS sufferers in health, education and employment, the examination of blood
before transfusions, and the confidentiality of AIDS sufferers' identities.
Prof. Xia Guomei, a noted AIDS expert from the Shanghai Academy of Social
Sciences, urged lawmakers to make every effort to "seek the applicable and
symbolic legal force for the effectively control of the dissemination of Aids
while not contradicting other policies".
Meanwhile, Prof. Qiu Renzong, a leading Aids expert, complained too few laws
could actually stop or remedy discrimination against AIDS sufferers and that
conflicts existed between law enforcement and AIDS prevention and care
activities.
China's AIDS prevention and control laws should be enacted in compliance with
international human rights norms and the interests of China's sustainable
development, said Prof. Qiu.
The summit was cosponsored by Qinghua University, the Aaron Diamond AIDS
Research Center, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union
Medical College. Aids experts from both home and overseas attended and gave
presentations, with the hope that Chinese laws on AIDS prevention and control
would be further improved.
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