The government of an HIV/AIDS-ravaged province in southwest China has completed a research report which calls for legal reform to get non-governmental organizations (NGOs) more involved in the control work of the disease.

Sichuan Province has the sixth highest reported HIV infection rate--almost 8,000--in the country, and now the provincial government is seeking to drastically address the burgeoning problem with a still higher estimated number of infections--around 60,000--and a rising number of cases infected through sex.

Based on the research which was backed with financial support from a China-UK project called the China AIDS Roadmap Tactical Support (CHARTS), legal experts believe NGOs play an "irreplaceable" role in China's arduous battle against HIV/AIDS, and their involvement is an "inevitable" trend.

"it's necessary to set up the NGO organization law and revamp the current regulations related to social organizations," says Liu Xiao, an official with the Sichuan provincial government's Legislative Affairs Office, which conducted the research on Dec. 2006.

Often referred to as the "21st century plague," the unprecedented spread of HIV/AIDS caught the world off-guard, primarily due to the lack of understanding and social stigma surrounding the virus.

"A large portion of high-risk people, such as sex workers and gay communities are undercover, instead of being on firm ground," notes Xu Baohua, deputy director of the Disease Prevention and Control Department under the Sichuan Provincial Health Bureau.

Therefore, "it would be very difficult to reach our prospective goal, if we use the traditional method--mobilizing government institutes at all levels--to fight HIV/AIDS, like we confront any sudden crisis of public health, such as SARS," Xu says.

"Fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a protracted war, during which the NGO is a force not to be ignored. They can go to the places, and initiate some activities that government organizations are unable to," Xu says.

Take sex workers for example, over the last few years, the local government had spent a lot of time and energy to try to identify the sheer scale of this high-risk and invisible group, but the result was not so good, admits Ms. Liu, a health official with the disease control department on the outskirts of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

Ms. Liu, who prefers to be anonymous, recalls that in 2004 she and her colleagues drove around the town in order to figure out exactly how many night clubs and prostitutes work in the city's streets.

"Whenever we see an entertainment venue, we make a male colleague go in pretending to seek the services of a prostitute and we would only then go in to investigate if the owner says such a service is available."

"But the owner would most often deny and then push us away once they know our real purpose is to distribute condoms and promote the knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention," says Ms. Liu.

When a grassroots NGO--the Dragonfly Group--became involved, however, “our work became easier as a couple of group members themselves were sex workers," she says.

The mobility of women working in night clubs is quite frequent. In this sense, a group member who is a sex worker is like a 'dragonfly'--wherever she goes, she can take the preventive knowledge on HIV/AIDS with her, and approach her new peers with it.

More importantly, Ms. Liu says, "those group members can persistently work as a propagator for HIV/AIDS prevention among sex workers as they live there."

Xiao Chen, who moved to Ms. Liu's town in 2005, is one such 'dragonfly'.

"The place I work now is not extravagant. Yet, we often have new 'sisters', young and naive. I have my own way to raise their awareness of HIV. I tell them that, once contacted with the virus, your life is over regardless of how much you've earned. Most of time, they listen to me,because I'm one of them," says the 23 year-old woman.

While the NGO's role as a rising force in the national war against HIV/AIDS is becoming more evident, the bottleneck of related laws is getting more obvious as well.

To gain a legal status, a social organization should first be examined and approved by a related governing department, and only then can an organizer be registered in the department of civil affairs and become lawful, according to the Regulation on the Registration of Social Organizations that the State Council issued in 1998.

NGOs are purely non-profit organizations and as such, they have relaxed requirements for qualification. Furthermore, Liu Xiao notices that related government departments usually do not want to be the governing departments for NGOs, thus forcing them either to work illegally,or register as enterprises.

Wang Xiaodong, for instance, has his NGO Chengdu Gay Community Care Organization registered as a health consultancy.

"That means some NGOs have no legal status, whilst some are working as semi-official government organizations which partially exercise governmental functions and receive funds from the government purse," Liu Xiao says.

These institutional restrictions have hindered the development of NGOs. So far, there are no more than ten registered HIV/AIDS preventive NGOs in Sichuan.

Figures released by the Public Health School at the West China University of Medical Sciences suggest that there are around 71,000 male homosexuals in Chengdu.

Wang Xiaodong, however, says the real number is probably near 100,000, with about 8,000 to 18,000 in active relationships.

"That is to say most gay men are virtually invisible, thus presenting a threat to HIV/AIDS prevention at large. So, what we've been doing as a NGO is trying to identify people that hid their sexual orientation and empower them with knowledge and advice on how to fight the plague."

Entrusted by the Health Ministry's National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention earlier this year, Wang's organization drafted an AIDS prevention programme for the Chinese gay community.

Wu Zunyou, director of the national center comments that "as homosexuals are a high-risk group, letting their own organizations take part in the drafting of a government programme would make the country's HIV/AIDS prevention work much more focused and effective."

As Wang Xiaodong points out, although their activities are purely non-profit, many NGOs pay the price for being registered as companies. "We still have to pay sales tax of about 10,000 yuan (about US$1,300) a year," he complains.

Consequently, it is extremely difficult for an NGO with a business registration to get sufficient financial support from social organizations, especially when it comes to international ones. Wang Xiaodong's consultancy has benefited from donations totaling just 3,000 yuan (US$375) since it was set up in 2004.

According to current Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation regulations, in order to benefit from tax reductions or remittance on donations, domestic enterprises can only give money to 12 officially acknowledged charity organizations such as the Red Cross Society of China and the China Charity Federation.

Xu Baohua of the provincial health bureau notices the funding limitations of the current laws and regulations are affecting not only NGOs, but also the initiatives of donors, "thus hindering the development of important HIV/AIDS preventive work."

China has more than 230,000 NGOs. Of these, around 22,000 are based in Sichuan, but only 50 are actively involved in HIV/AIDS prevention work.

According to Liu Xiao, under the current situation, it is necessary to improve the legal environment for NGOs engaged in HIV/AIDS battles.

National legislators should create a more relaxed legal environment for the establishment and registration of NGOs, says Liu Xiao.

Firstly, Liu Xiao says, national lawmakers should set up new NGO laws to clarify their legal status, duties and legitimate rights.

Secondly, the government should improve feedback mechanisms for suggestions from the NGOs with regards to HIV/AIDS policy, along with creating a simpler administrative process for registration.

Finally, the government could set up a special fund and employ tax remit measures for enterprises that help fund social schemes such as HIV/AIDS prevention work, Liu Xiao says.

Based on his suggestions, the Sichuan provincial government is currently drafting new regulations to deal with the issue. They are expected to issue their report early next year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2007)