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how we help

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china

In China, the current healthcare system primarily focuses on the needs of married couples mainly due to the population policy of restricting urban married couples to one child.  Marie Stopes’ team in China aims to address the unmet sexual and reproductive healthcare needs of adolescents, unmarried youth and migrant workers.  To achieve this Marie Stopes has implemented and expanded its You&Me network of youth-friendly centres, peer education teams and a new youth focused website, www.youandme.org.cn.  In 2009 a new You&Me centre was opened in the Qingdao province and the Nanjing You&Me centre was relocated to provide easier access for university students. All of these initiatives aim to respond to the gap in sexual and reproductive healthcare services for young people in China.

Halting the transmission of HIV is also a priority for the program. In China, where it is estimated that 17% of people do not know that HIV even exists, Marie Stopes has continued to roll out its ‘Positive Talks’ project.  The project aims to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and combat the social stigma associated with the disease, whilst empowering those who are living with HIV. ‘Positive Talks’ trains ‘Positive Speakers’ to go into rural and urban communities and humanise HIV.  These talks address a range of issues such as HIV education, prevention, personal care and anti discrimination.

 

Current Projects
  • You&Me sexual and reproductive health centres providing services to unmarried young people
  • ‘Positive Talks’ is a program which has HIV/AIDS ‘Positive Speakers’ talking to people about HIV prevention and stigma

 

Key Achievements
 
  • In 2009, China opened a new You&Me youth focused centre offering safe abortion services and an existing centre was relocated to better serve the needs of young people
  • Also in 2009 the team implemented and coordinated the development of the Stigma Index, a project funded by United Nations AIDS in partnership with the Chinese Ministry of Health. The research they conducted formed a report with key findings as to how other countries with negative HIV stigma and discrimination can advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS. To access and read the full report go to www.unaids.org.

 

His Story

Bei Fang, one of our ‘Positive Speakers’ in China, is helping to reduce the stigma and lack of awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Chinese community.  Bei says current perceptions of HIV are that ‘…the disease is horrible and people have no hope. Little is known of treatment and anti-retroviral therapies.’

‘Positive Speakers’ go into rural and urban communities where there is little knowledge of HIV, taking the time to explain what they can do to halt HIV and sharing their stories as positive people. ‘At the end of the training they always shake hands with me, hug me, they are not afraid to touch me and they show us respect.’ Bei says that ‘Positive Talks’ not only helps communities but also helps those living with HIV, ‘It gives us a sense of home and ownership – and it helps to make us feel that we are not alone.