Please go to www.cf-china.org, our dedicated website to the HIV Collaborative Fund for the China Region. The website contains English and Chinese translations of the activities in China as well as descriptions of the grantee projects.
The Collaborative Fund is initiating a funding process in China similar to what has happened in South Asia and Southeast Asia, but on a country-wide basis. China was originally included as one of the countries in Year One of the Southeast and East Asia grant process.
The China Community Treatment Preparedness Workshop was held in Kunming, China from 24 – 27 Sept 2005 organised by a steering committee of thirteen community advocates with administrative support from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. The 4-day meeting was attended by 60 Chinese participants of which fifty were people living with HIV and AIDS. Sixteen out of China’s twenty-eight provinces were represented. The meeting included fifteen resource people, presenters and planning committee members. It was possibly the largest and most geographically diverse gathering of PLWHA in China.
China has moved quickly from its initial pilot programs to provide antiretroviral treatment to its citizens in 2002. Moving from treatment of a few hundred people, the government, with Global Fund support, set a target of treating 30,000 PLWHA by the end of 2005. While this goal was too ambitious and won’t be achieved, there are treatment programs across the country as part of China’s “Four Frees and One Care” program.
The problem is in implementation. Access to programs varies from place to place. Many PLWHA have dropped out of treatment programs due to a lack of treatment education and support. There is a need for PLWHA to be able to understand side effects, adhere to treatment, and find ways to ensure that they can stay on treatment. This workshop addressed these issues while aiming to improve treatment programs in China, stimulate progress in treatment education and advocacy, and empower and give skills and knowledge to the participants of the meeting.
The workshop program included presentations, interactive sessions, and small group discussions on a broad variety of topics. Day 1 included an introduction to the Collaborative Fund, ITPC, and Tides Foundation; an overview of China’s national treatment policy, an overview of treatment available in China, an introduction to the topic of treatment literacy and education, and a discussion of treatment for children. Two PLWHA, who have been on treatment for many years each, told their personal stories of the challenges of adherence and access to treatment.
Day 2 featured presentations on treatment education tools, counseling skills and models of treatment education which included a discussion of the role of community and PLWHA in treatment support. Participants also worked together in groups to report on the status of treatment access in each province represented at the meeting. Common problems faced by PLWHA in China include confidentiality issues, excessive hospital charges for CD4 testing and Opportunistic Infection treatment, a lack of treatment education, counseling and other information, and a shortage of qualified medical staff.
On Day 3 there was a report of an advocacy meeting sponsored by Oxfam that took place in July 2005 with about thirty participants to discuss TRIPS and the availability of ARVs in China, followed by a discussion of what actions could be taken to increase access, including negotiations with manufacturers, and lobbying for the use of compulsory licensing for domestic production. An example of advocacy was given through a presentation on the experiences of a haemophiliacs’ group.
Day 4 focused on project design, management and implementation with an additional session on grant writing. The workshop was also about building community and encouraging networking between participants. So, the cultural program included a visit to Kunming’s one gay bar, a special dinner featuring a local specialty, Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles, and a special cultural show from Yunnan with dozens of singing and dancing children, drumming and light shows, and the amazing “peacock dance.”
Perhaps the most exciting achievement of the meeting was the establishment of a National Treatments Advocacy Network. Workshops participants elected five people as the steering group to look at actions in three areas: working with drug companies to lower prices and increase accessibility of needed HIV drugs, tackling stigma and discrimination - especially within the government and its health structures, and improving the implementation of national treatment policy. As part of this new advocacy initiative, the group drafted and reviewed two public statements that will be released in the near future, one directed at a pharmaceutical company and the other regarding stigma among medical workers in China.
The full report from the workshop will be made public when it is available.
A
CRP meeting was held on January 6-9, 2006 to decide on grantee awards after a call for submissions for applications was distributed widely in China. A total of $149,900 was distributed to 19 groups. The
Grantee List included community groups from both rural and urban regions of China.
A workshop for grantees was held in October 2006. The workshop provided participants an opportunity to share information about their programs, obtain technical assistance to further their work and plan for future activities. The Country Advisory Committee met afterwards to plan for a second round of grant making. The
application was available in November 2006 and the grantees have been chosen for 2006.
The regional coordinator for China is Thomas Zhang located at the AIDS Care China, China office. Contact him at:
thomas2000cn@yahoo.com.
Please go to
www.cf-china.org, our dedicated website to the HIV Collaborative Fund for the China Region. The website contains English and Chinese translations of the activities in China as well as descriptions of the grantee projects.
China Documents
China 2006 Grant Summaries
China 2006 Application
China 2006 Application 2
China 2005 Grant Summaries
China 2005 CRP Meeting
China 2005 Workshop Report
China Treatment Materials
Adherence Pamphlet
ARV Simple Guide
ARV Text
HIV Flip Chart
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 1)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 2)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 3)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 4)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 5)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 6)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 7)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 8)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 9)
China HIV Presentation Liuzhou (Page 10)
