The government's intervention programs for HIV/AIDS high-risk groups indicate it is making the health of those groups a priority, according to an article in Beijing Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

The municipal government of Beijing is stepping up its efforts to fight HIV/AIDS by giving out free condoms in public places and offering methadone maintenance treatment and needle exchange programs for drug-users.

Two years ago an institute in Hunan Province provided free physical checkups and condoms to people working in nightclubs, dance halls, saunas and hairdressing salons. This was based on the widespread belief that such places often harbor practitioners of illegal sex trade.

On the one hand the government is trying to eliminate such illegal business. On the other hand, it spends resources on checkups for these people and even gives them condoms. Some say such actions will only boost the illegal business and make things worse.

Despite the government's past efforts to eliminate prostitution, the world's oldest profession still exists in many of China's cities. It cannot be eradicated by arrests and punishment. Therefore, the government has been forced to find other methods of dealing with the sex trade.

If the government does not offer free checkups and condoms, the men and women in the business will not quit. But when the government offers those services fewer of them will be at risk of sexually-transmitted diseases.

Distributing free condoms has a same effect as methadone and needle exchanges for drug-users: helping members of a high-risk group reduce their chances of being infected with HIV/AIDS.

These people have caused some harm to society, so they are always the target of penalties. But penalties won't make them quit prostitution or drug-addiction. If the high-risk groups do not get proper help, society could pay a much higher price down the road.

Comparing the results, offering help is no less important than penalties. And in some cases, lending a hand is the more practical solution.

When the government initiates projects to help members of these high-risk groups, it makes their lives and health a priority.
 
(China Daily July 16, 2004)