Asia Catalyst

In 2012, Asia Catalyst is celebrating five years of partnering with grassroots groups in East and Southeast Asia. In a challenging environment, this new generation of leaders is developing innovative ways to meet the needs of marginalized communities. Most of our partners are small start-up groups in Asia and as part of our 5th Anniversary Campaign, we are asking for donations to help Chinese health rights advocates to make their voices heard at the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. this July. Please make a tax-deductible contribution here.

Geneva, 30 January 2012 - The November 2011 announcement of the cancellation of the 11th round of funding of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria because of the Fund's financial difficulties presents the international community with both a health and a human rights crisis.  Since its first round of funding in 2002, the Global Fund has played an indispensable role in advancing the health and human rights goals of the global HIV response.

The Global Fund's financial difficulties are part of a broader global HIV funding crisis. This funding crisis is the most important human rights issue in the HIV response at this time. Paradoxically, funding is being flat-lined or reduced just as science, medicine and programmes are providing the tools for success against HIV.

1. [China Dialogue] What the smog can't conceal 
(English) http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4734-What-the-smog-can-t-conceal-
(Chinese) http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/ch/4734-What-the-smog-can-t-conceal-

Since the autumn, a series of polluted "hazes" in cities across China - and discussion of that now ubiquitous term for fine particulate matter, PM2.5 - have attracted widespread public attention. So too has the official response: while urban air pollution fast became a focus of public anger, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), which is responsible for monitoring air quality, took the opportunity to show its sluggish and bureaucratic side.

2. [Blog | New Yorker] The Chinese View of SOPA
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/01/the-chinese-view-of-sopa.html

In China, the reaction to American protests has ranged from sympathy to gentle Schadenfreude. A commentator known as Dr. Zhang wrote on Weibo, the Twitter-like micro-blogging site: "I've come up with a perfect solution: You can come to China to download all your pirated media, and we'll go to America to discuss politically sensitive subjects."

By Sara L.M. Davis

Yu Hua's New York Times op-ed, "In China, Grievances Keep Coming", says that China's petitioning system works alongside the legal system as a parallel way to channel thousands of individual grievances each year. In fact, as Asia Catalyst sees in our work with Chinese AIDS NGOs, the petitioning system undermines social stability.

Wish tree at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna

By Mike Frick

Last week, China's Ministry of Health released a draft "Code of Conduct for Medical Practitioners" for public review and comment. The document lays out a code of conduct for hospital administrators, doctors, nurses and other medical personnel. According to the ILO, many Chinese hospitals refuse to treat patients with HIV/AIDS - so there is definitely a need for new policies. We reviewed the draft code within Asia Catalyst and found some areas of progress, as well as some areas where the standards need a lot more work.