CHINA / National
US limits using of Chinese computers
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-19 10:27
The US State Department, o
CHINA / National
Drug use, HIV go hand-in-hand
By Hu Yan (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2006-05-19 10:46
"Needle exchange programmes help more than AIDS prevention; it provides a
communication platform for IDUs, helps them gain confidence and build
their social responsibility." -- GU QIAN, An official with the Centre
for Disease Prevention and Control in Ziyang, Sichuan Province
The 25-year-old woman surnamed Lu refused to talk about her past -- a
past destroyed by heroin.
For the past seven years, the pretty woman has been addicted to injecting
drugs, which led to numerous needle scars on her arms and the deadly HIV
virus.
The city where she resides, Ningming city of South China's Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region, bordering Viet Nam, has been troubled by drug
trafficking. Around 500 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported there, most of
them injected drug users (IDUs) who became infected by sharing tainted
syringes, rinse water, cotton and other injection equipment.
"It's a very tough problem; IDU will continue to be the leading factor to
aggravate the epidemic," said Professor Chen Jie, director of Guangxi's
Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). The region is among the
areas most heavily hit by HIV/AIDS.
Threat to public health
The marriage of drugs and HIV has led to a serious public health problem
in China.
After HIV/AIDS was first detected in Yunnan Province among drug users,
drugs have played a predominant role in the spread of the disease.
Statistics show that from 1997 to 2004, IDUs made up about 62 per cent of
reported HIV/AIDS cases. The more alarming figure is that HIV infects
more than 10 per cent of IDUs in Yunnan, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Guangxi,
Guangdong and Ningxia. In some areas the number is as high as 80 per
cent, like Yili of Xinjiang and Dazu city in Sichuan.
The Chinese Government has spent a huge sum of money and additional
police to crack down on drug trafficking and rehabilitate drug abusers.
But such policies are inadequate when HIV is involved in the battle.
"If I have money to buy syringes, why not use it for drugs?" said Lu,
adding that many drug abusers can't afford the daily cost for clean
syringes - 1.5 yuan (US$0.18) each. In addition, buying syringes risks
exposure to the police and results in compulsory detoxification.
It's not enough just telling drug abusers not to share syringes -
financial pressure
and the behaviour of group injection usually cause them to neglect the
risk of transmitting HIV.
The experience of other countries indicates that to curb the behaviour
requires more proactive - and controversial - measures, such as providing
IDUs with clean injection equipment or methadone maintenance therapy at
very low cost.
Needle exchange programmes
Supported by the government and several international organizations, 30
cities in Guangxi have carried out needle exchange programmes since 2004,
covering more than 6,100 IDUs.
Lu has not only benefited from the project, but also has helped deliver
syringes to other IDUs as a peer educator.
She collects used syringes from around 30 IDUs, counts them and delivers
them to the needle exchange centre under the Ningming Health and Disease
Prevention Institute. From the centre, she gets the same number of free,
clean syringes and rinse water.
As a peer educator, she also regularly educates her peers about the
HIV/AIDS and advises them to quit risky behaviour, including needle
sharing and unprotected sex.
Lu is happy with her job, which brings her a stable monthly salary of 300
yuan (US$37). She is proud of doing something good for society. "I can
say that none of my peers share needles."
"Being infected with HIV is the most horrible thing. But we couldn't
control ourselves not to share needles when the addiction would come up,"
said a drug user surnamed Lin in Ningming who uses free syringes from the
project.
"Without the needle exchange programme, the disease (HIV) would be
prevalent
among people like me."
Around 100 needle exchange centres have been established in 12 provinces
in est and south China that have severe drug problems. Comparative
studies show needle exchange, together with community outreach work to
IDUs, has caused a decrease in heroin use and drug-related crimes among
participants.
"Needle exchange programmes help more than AIDS prevention; it provides a
communication platform for IDUs, helps them gain confidence and build
their social responsibility," said Gu Qian, a CDC official in Ziyang city
of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The needle exchange centre in Ziyang under Gu's charge has served near
1,000 IDUs since 2004.
Methadone maintenance therapy
Lu hopes the day will come soon when she will be rid of the heroine
nightmare by taking methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). In Ningming,
the first government- sponsored clinic is expected to be open by June.
The first MMT programme was piloted in China in March 2004. By last year,
a total of 34 methadone clinics had been established in 11 provinces
including Sichuan, Zhejiang, Guangxi and Guizhou.
Since last June, 29-year-old Liao and her husband have visited the MMT
Clinic located in Wuhou District People's No. 2 Hospital in downtown
Chengdu. A small cup of methadone every day costs them only 10 yuan
(US$1.20). The green and bitter liquid has helped them quit injecting
heroin.
The couple are HIV positive. A screening of 200 patients in the clinic
last year found 20 patients to be HIV positive, seven of them confirmed
as HIV carriers.
"The city needs at least 11 such clinics to effectively control HIV
prevailing among and through IDUs," said Deng Jingfu, director of the
clinic, which has a staff of 12.
The clinic, the only one in Chengdu, has received more than 330 patients,
much more than the designed capability of 250 patients.
"We need more financial support and experienced medical staff who are
capable of dealing with drug problem," said Deng.
The pilot MMT projects have had mixed results: uneven adherence by
patients, decrease in crimes and also medical accidents involving death.
The central government has approved dozens more MMT clinics for the
third-stage pilot MMT programme.
Experts say that most injected heroin users need to take methadone for
the rest of their lives if they are to remain heroin free. The cost of
providing them cheap methadone and running the clinics requires a heavy
financial investment.
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ut of ungrounded security concerns after its
purchase of computers from a Chinese company, will not use the equipment
for classified information, the agency said on Thursday.
Government security experts are recommending that the nearly 16,000
computers purchased last fall from China's Lenovo Group Ltd. "be utilized
on unclassified systems only," said Assistant Secretary of State Richard
Griffin in a letter to Congress.
The letter did not specifically cite security concerns with Lenovo. But
it said that the department was altering its procurement process "in
light of the changing ownership of IT (information technology) equipment
providers."
The State Department took the action on the $13 million contract after
questions were raised recently about the computers by Rep. Frank Wolf, a
Virginia Republican who oversees the agency's funds.
"I was deeply troubled to learn that the new computers were purchased
from a China-based company, and that at least 900 of these computers were
planned to be used as part of the classified network deployed in the
United States and around the world in embassies and consulates," Wolf
said.
But Lenovo said the U.S. government's concerns were unwarranted.
"We know these computers present no security risk because they do not
have back doors and they do not have surveillance software tools
installed on them," said Jeff Carlisle, Lenovo's vice president of
government relations.
Wolf is a frequent critic of China and he said Chinese firms with links
to the Beijing should not win U.S. government contracts.
Since the September 11 attacks, there has been growing skepticism in
Congress of some foreign companies' involvement in American commerce.
OBJECTIONS TO PURCHASE
The computer deal also raised questions from the congressionally created
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Michael Wessel, a Democratic commissioner on the panel that monitors
China trade and national security implications, said that a "significant
portion" of Lenovo is owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an arm of
the Chinese government.
In March, Wessel said the U.S. government should be worried about the
computer purchase, especially if there were codes embedded into the
computers that could be remotely activated.
Carlisle countered that Lenovo "has always operated as a market-oriented
independent company" and that the Chinese Academy of Sciences has only a
"minority interest."
He said the academy does not direct Lenovo's day-to-day operations and
does not have a member on its board of directors.
The US State Department said the Lenovo computers were purchased under
standard U.S. government purchasing rules. The computers were procured
through CDW Corp., a government contractor based in Vernon Hills,
Illinois.
Lenovo bought IBM's personal computer division last May. The computers
bought by the State Department were assembled in the United States and
Mexico with integrated circuits made in Taiwan, according to the company.
Details of the State Department contract surfaced shortly after Congress
pressured a state-owned Arab company, Dubai Ports World, into walking
away from plans to manage several U.S. port terminals.
Last year, China's state-controlled CNOOC Ltd. dropped its bid to acquire
U.S. oil and gas company Unocal Corp. after a strong backlash from the
U.S. Congress.
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