Download the full report "AIDS Blood Scandals: What China Can Learn From the World's Mistakes"(pdf)

China Must Address Blood Safety, Compensate HIV Victims

(New York, September 6, 2007)—China needs urgent international assistance to upgrade the safety of its blood supply, and should establish a national fund to compensate people infected with HIV through blood transfusions, Asia Catalyst said today.

Seven years since the exposure of mass infections of HIV-AIDS in central Henan province through blood sales, the Chinese government's system to ensure the safety of its national blood supply remains dangerously inadequate, while thousands of those living with HIV/AIDS are impoverished due to lack of a national compensation system, said Sara (Meg) Davis, director of Asia Catalyst and co-author of the 38-page report, AIDS Blood Scandals: What China Can Learn From the World's Mistakes. The report, simultaneously released in English and Chinese, examines how the U.S, Canada, France and Japan handled similar outbreaks of HIV transmitted through blood transfusions.

“China is not alone,” said Davis. “Most developed countries have dealt with similar AIDS blood scandals, and they should step forward to offer assistance to China.”

In the 1980s and early 1990s, thousands of people in the U.S., Japan, France and Canada contracted HIV/AIDS through contaminated blood supplies. Most governments were slow to respond. While many victims took their cases to courts, some died before winning their cases, and many lost a large part of their recoveries to attorneys. Court cases proved to be costly and ineffective for both victims and governments.

“Most countries eventually did three things that solved the problem,” said Evan Anderson, research consultant for Asia Catalyst and co-author of the report. “They held investigations, established national compensation funds for victims, and centralized control of the blood supply.”

In the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Chinese villagers were infected with HIV through state-run for-profit blood collection centers. As a result, hospital patients have been infected with HIV through transfusions of contaminated blood and blood products.

Despite ongoing efforts to crack down on illegal blood sales, Chinese health officials admit that the blood supply is not yet safe. China’s blood supply is regulated by a complicated array of national and local agencies. Though the government has outlawed underground blood sales, these persist in many regions. Blood donations are not always tracked and computerized at a central level, making it possible for untested blood to slip into the national supply.

“The demand for blood and blood products is growing in China, and supply is short,” said Davis. “This creates an economic incentive for hospitals to rely on illegal, untested blood donations, and that fuels the spread of AIDS.”

The report documents the mixed success that Chinese people infected with HIV through blood transfusions have had in the courts. In some regions, victims have won big settlements, but have not always been able to collect. In regions such as Henan province, where HIV infection was widespread, courts have closed their doors and refused to hear any HIV-related cases. The report explains how in most other countries, a national compensation fund has proved to be a cost-effective and fair solution to the problem.

“While the worst of the catastrophe is in the past, the threat to our global future is real,” said Anderson. “China needs international assistance to address its blood safety. The AIDS epidemic has never respected national boundaries.”

Asia Catalyst is a New York-based nonprofit that partners with civil society advocates in Asia to inspire, create and launch innovative, self-sustaining programs and organizations that advance human rights, social justice, and environmental protection.