By Liao Tian, Beijing Morning Post, China, who attended a TRF 'Reporting HIV/Aids' course in Beijing, 23-27 November 2009.

Bubble once was a resident physician in a major hospital in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province. Three months ago, he was treated for some minor illness which involved blood tests
Bubble had no idea he was tested for HIV and the result was positive. Days before he was told by a close colleague, not the hospital, his HIV positive status was an open secret in the hospital.
Bubble’s colleagues started to avoid him at work and his direct boss asked hospital authorities to relocate him to another division. But he was not welcome anywhere in the hospital.
Losing his job, colleagues and friends in Sichuan, Bubble moved to Beijing where he knows no one and no one knows him. He is now living under a false identity in the capital city and has no contact with the world before he was tested HIV positive.

According to Chinese laws, every individual or origination should protect the privacy of people living with HIV. No one can disclose the names, addresses, working, medical history and any other information without the HIV-infected people or their guardian's consent.
But such confidentiality measures are rarely respected in China and it is not uncommon that hospital authorities inform families and friends of the patients before they inform the patients of their HIV status.

Going to the courts is never an option for people living with HIV/AIDS in China.
"Prosecution would let more people know their privacy," said Wang Ruotao, deputy director of China’s Aids Prevention and Control Committee of the Ministry of Health.
“People living with HIV will weigh the pros and cons, and they always choose to suffer rather than expose.”  
Despite increasing public awareness on HIV/AID, it remains hard to change the bias against HIV/AIDS in small cities and rural areas in China.
Meng Lin, the longest living patient with HIV/AIDS in China, was exposed by one TV station of his HIV status and lost his business immediately after the exposure.
To have a life, Meng lives under a false identity and never reveals his HIV status to people outside the HIV positive circle.
“I bought the ring for myself, so that people will see I’m a common married man. Sometimes we just have to lie,” said Meng, touching the ring on his finger.

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