News » Life in Qulou is almost unrecognizable from

ZHENGZHOU Cheap Yordano Ventura Jersey , Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A decade has passed since China declared a state-level war against HIVAIDS, through the release of preventative guidelines and a set of related policies.


On the whole, the initiative has been a success but the fight is far from over.


As the 27th World AIDS Day fell on Monday, Xinhua reporters revisited Qulou, a once-unknown village in central China's Henan Province.


The village, so small it is not identifiable on maps, attracted worldwide attention due to the prevalence of people living with HIVAIDS (PLWHA).


Poverty and a lack of education resulted in many people in the area selling their blood to the black market Cheap Paulo Orlando Jersey , this unhygienic practice resulted in 107 of Qulou's 1,600 villagers contracting the disease.


SHADOW OF DEATH, SHAME


Reaching its peak at the end of 1980s and the beginning of 1990s, black market blood trade kingpins, the "blood heads", ensured constant supply by pooling all the donated blood, siphoning off the plasma and then pumping the plasma into donors' bodies. This meant people could donate more often Cheap Salvador Perez Jersey , an attractive offer to the poor and uneducated, but with it came the consequence of contracting the disease.


In 2011, the film "Love for Life" brought the 1990s blood-selling scandal to the fore of Chinese consciousness.


The movie's heroine, Qinqin, contracts the disease after selling her blood to buy shampoo only affordable by city dwellers at the time.


In reality, however, the reasons many farmers sold their blood was simple: for food or to pay for their children's education.


The HIVAIDS epidemic devastated the already impoverished village. People were unable to work Cheap Mike Moustakas Jersey , medical care was expensive and even those who were not infected were labeled "unemployable" due to their association with the region.


One of the lines in the film: "Once there was a global fever called AIDS. It snuck into our village and everyone who caught it died, and fell like falling leaves," resonated with villager Han Ding.


Han, 42, was informed that he had contracted the virus through a screening in 1999. Many people died without even knowing they had contracted the disease, he recalled.


"I felt the sky collapse. My life had been snatched away from me," he said.


A doctor named Gui Xien as the first to expose the reality of this "dirty" secret. After that Cheap Lorenzo Cain Jersey , Chinese leaders visited these villages.


PLWHA had to also live with stigma surrounding the virus and were often shamed as the "disgraced". They faced isolation and ostracization


Han recalled once giving a relative a bag of bananas as a gift, only for the man to throw them away as soon as he left.


HARD FOUGHT BATTLE


In 2003, China's then vice premier Wu Yi visited PLWHA in Henan, and the State Council AIDS Working Committee was founded in 2014, marking the country's large-scale battle against the disease.


The central government enacted a string of policies in 2004, such as providing free antiretroviral treatment to rural PLWHA and low-income city dwellers; free HIV screening; free mother-to-infant transmission treatment; free infant HIV testing and financial assistance for the children of parents that have died of AIDS.


In the same year, a pilot program to use Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to treat PLWHA was also launched Cheap Alex Gordon Jersey , and Henan was one of the five pilot provinces. Currently, the program has helped about 5,000 PLWHA in Henan, a province of more than 100 million people.


Over the past ten years, the PLWHA mortality rate in Henan has dropped to 2.9 percent from 9.23 percent.


Wang Xiulan, 56, from Zhangshi in Weishi County said she was so overcome with shame when she discovered she had contracted the disease that she avoided human contact. In addition Cheap Alcides Escobar Jersey , she suffered from the side effects of the Western antiretroviral therapy.


"I lay in bed all day waiting for death," she recalled. But after receiving auxiliary TCM treatment, her life has turned around.


TCM therapy has succeeded in improving patients' lives by raising their CD4 counts, a type of cell in the immune system, and relieving symptoms, such as persistent fever, weight loss and skin rash.


NEW LIFE


Life in Qulou is almost unrecognizable from a decade ago. Villagers now mostly live in two-story buildings; many of the younger generation now live and work in the big cities to help support their families; while PLWHA have found employment in factories.


But medical treatment is just one part of a larger process. The hearts of PLWHA also need healing.


PLWHA across the globe often face discrimination Cheap Bo Jackson Jersey , especially in rural areas, where education on the disease is lacking.


"I felt I was inferior to others and even considered suicide," Wang Xiulan said. "The judgements of others hurt me".


Initially, she was scared to talk about her disease. "People hated you if you mentioned it. Everyone just became very sensitive," she recalled.


One doctor, from the AIDS-plagued county of Shangcai, Wu Zhongren recalled one patient bursting into tears when he put on latex gloves Cheap George Brett Jersey , because she thought it meant she must have the disease.


However, Han Zhiwei, another doctor in Qulou, said: "People are now more tolerant as they now understand this disease and the psychological burden of PLWHA has been alleviated thanks to proper medical care."


Han Ding said he had considered leaving the area but he was too weak for physical labor. His family now ekes out an existence supported by growing and selling wheat, corn and watermelon.


Han is glad that his daughter, who is due to take her college entrance examination, still loves him.


"I'm lucky Wholesale Kansas City Royals Jerseys ," he said. "At least I'm still alive. I hope I can live to see the day my daughter walks down the aisle."


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