Cablegate: Guangxi: Hiv/Aids Programs On the Vietnam Border

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DE RUEHGZ #0640/01 1550906
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040906Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6120
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000640

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DOL FOR ILAB
HHS FOR STEIGER AND BHAT
NIH FOR FOGARTY CENTER (HOLT)
NIH ALSO FOR NIAID (HOFF)
STATE FOR USAID FOR ANE AND GH/HIV-AIDS
STATE FOR S/GAC, OES, OES/PCI, OES/IHA, DRL/PHD, AND EAP/CM
CDC FOR GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAM
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/AP/OCEA MCQUEEN
BANGKOK FOR USAID (BRADSHAW)
USPACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KHIV TBIO EAID SOCI PGOV ECON CH
SUBJECT: Guangxi: HIV/AIDS Programs on the Vietnam Border

REF: A) 06 Guangzhou 13565; B) 06 Guangzhou 5479

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1. (U) SUMMARY: Consul General and USAID Bangkok Health officer
visited the cities of Dongxing and Pingxiang in Guangxi to take a
look at and support USG-assisted HIV/AIDS projects along the border
between China and Vietnam. Although small in scale, the projects
serve two purposes: to provide outreach to at-risk populations of
Vietnamese and Chinese sex workers, migrant workers, and truck
drivers; and to develop capacity among local officials. Compared to
one year ago, local support for the projects is growing. In
addition, local public security officials increasingly recognyze
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2. (U) Consul General, accompanied by USAID Bangkok Project officer
Clifton Cortez, a USAID publicist, members of Congen Guangzhou and
several USAID HIV/AIDS contractors, visited Guangxi in late May to
take a close look at USAID's HIV/AIDS-supported projects along the
border with Vietnam. Though USAID does not have a mission in China,
it has gained access for HIV/AIDS outreach to Guangxi (Dongxing and
Pingxiang cities) and Yunnan through the Mekong River Delta program.

3. (U) The USAID programs target HIV/AIDS areas of high-risk
activity, focusing on sex workers and their clients as well as
intravenous drug users (IDU) and their sex partners. Sex and
intravenous drug use are the two main methods of HIV transmission;
sexually-transmitted HIV has recently reached parity with
IDU-transmitted HIV in China. The projects' primary outreach
methods include drop-in centers and peer education for sex workers,
public outreach and education, condom distribution via hotels and
public outreach or subsidized sales to sex workers, cross-border
outreach with sex worker training and client education, and mass
media campaigns to encourage behavioral change. USAID programs also
offer voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) to motivate people to
know their HIV status in order to reduce infection rates. The
HIV/AIDS project staff work closely with local and regional
officials to improve their capacity to monitor and respond to
infectious disease outbreaks.

Dongxing and Pingxiang Strongly Supportive of Programs
------------------------------- ----------------------

4. (U) During a meeting with the delegation, Dongxing Vice Mayor
Xian Shiyong and local health officials voiced strong support for
the HIV/AIDS programs in the border town. This was in contrast with
more tentative support on the part of the municipal government when
the project first began and it had little experience working with
international NGOs in early 2006 (i.e., the time of our earlier
visit). Xian cited progress made by the Dongxing government in
establishing an HIV/AIDS prevention committee and programs to
encourage behavioral change. He praised USAID-funded NGOs for
expanding outreach platforms, strengthening cross-border
cooperation, and improving the quality of the city's health teams.
The Vice Mayor urged expansion of the drop-in center for sex
workers, improved cooperation with Vietnam, and increased training
for the city's health officials. Xian noted that attempting to
reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDs remains one of the biggest challenges
of the outreach program.

5. (U) The Consul General expressed the USG's appreciation for
Dongxing's cooperation with USAID's contracting partners and USAID's

GUANGZHOU 00000640 002 OF 002

Cortez highlighted the President's Global AIDS Initiative and
agreement with Beijing to develop best practices. The hope, he
noted, is that Dongxing (and Pingxiang) will be in the forefront of
China-wide efforts to serve as a model for outreach and treatment.
The visit to Dongxing included a stop at the Sisterhood Health Home
drop-in center where sex workers were being trained in the use of
the female condom, and a stop at the border with Vietnam, where one
of the projects was conducting outreach with dock workers, laborers,
and migrants. According to officials, Dongxing has 300-400 sex
workers, a figure which doubles during China's three "golden"
vacation weeks and during the summer when migrant sex workers arrive
from central China to work the beaches.

6. (U) Pingxiang Vice Mayor Pan Xiaofang, who is responsible for
her city's pandemic disease programs, echoed Xian's praise for the
projects, expressing her appreciation for USAID's assistance to
Pingxiang's efforts to build a harmonious society. Due to Guangxi's
role in developing better economic relations with ASEAN countries,
in particular Vietnam - where the majority of China's ASEAN trade
goes - she noted that the Pingxiang border has rapidly developed as
a major transportation hub. Unlike Dongxing, which is in the
process of constructing a new customs and immigration center,
Pingxiang's new border crossing is fully operational, though it
appeared, for now, primarily to be processing individuals crossing
the border on foot. Truck traffic and sex workers congregate at the
nearby Puzai free-zone and crossing, a gritty warren of cross-border
trade and brothels. Puzai's sex worker population, aged between 16
and 35 years of age, was entirely Vietnamese, in contrast to
Dongxing's predominantly Chinese sex workers. (Once a female sex
worker reaches her mid-thirties, one of the few options available to
her, short of returning to Vietnam, where she likely will not be
welcomed by her family, is to marry a Chinese farmer.)

7. (U) A Vietnamese outreach worker at one of the USAID projects
estimated that one-third of the sex workers had been trafficked.
Trafficked women remained in Puzai for an average of six years,
compared with only two to three years for women who came
voluntarily. Outreach to trafficked women remained more difficult
and depended on whether the trafficker allowed outreach workers
access to the women. The small free zone contained 45 brothels with
more than 200 sex workers.

8. ()U) During a visit to an HIV/AIDS counseling and testing
center, which was co-located with the infectious disease hospital in
Pingxiang, USAID's Cortez highlighted the importance of project
outcomes in Guangxi and Yunnan, noting that one of the goals was to
develop a model of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for all of
China. He and the Consul General met with local outreach workers,
many of whom are "people living with HIV/AIDS" (PLHA), and praised
them and Pingxiang officials for their commitment to HIV/AIDS
outreach and treatment.

GOLDBERG

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