All this girl could have done was to die at home after a contaminated blood transfusion infected her with HIV, but Liu Ximei wasn't the one to be bullied into silence. The Chinese girl has now set up a support group for AIDS patients, to seek justice and the support they seek.
AIDS STIGMA and discrimination exists worldwide, although the ways are different. This stigma not only makes life difficult for patients suffering from the disease, but also interferes with the attempts to fight the AIDS epidemic as a whole.
Liu Ximei, an AIDS patient discovered about her illness in 2004, after she became suspicious when her brother's children began distancing themselves from her. 27-year-old Ximei was raised in a village near Southern China and it was ten years before when she suffered heavy blood loss and fell unconscious in a rural hospital for three days. And it was here, when a contaminated blood transfusion infected her with an AIDS causing virus. Ximei recalls in this AFP video: “When I woke up, I saw blood sellers pricking people with used needles and removing them out and drawing blood from the next person.”
According to a UN AIDS report released last year, almost seven percent of 780,000 Chinese AIDS patients were infeted by blood donors or transmission recipients, two-third were infected with sexual transmission and a quarter had this disease by injecting drugs.
The AIDS patients are subjected to a widespread stigma and discrimination in the country, particularly while applying for jobs where medical certificate is required. Liu Yige, project officer, Beijing Aizhixing Legal institute says: “If hospitals can't ensure patient's confidentiality, those who are at greatest risk of HIV will not go to the hospital, even if their condition deteriorates and if they show even severe symptoms, they don't go get checked out.”
Many people in china with HIV choose to keep their illness a secret. But Ximei was determined not to remain silent, even though she is a girl. She started to support AIDS patients and educated people that HIV will not pass through casual contacts. As the toll of HIV is raising in china, she is fighting for their justice and support.
