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HIV/AIDS: A direct threat to your bottom line

HIV/AIDS and breast cancer pose a significant threat to the lives and well-being of the Chinese people.

According to American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) President Charles Martin, foreign corporations operating in China know -- because they are more closely involved with the Chinese people than ever before -- that they cannot ignore these threats to their present and potential customers, their employees, partners and clients.

So AmCham, on January 20, 2005, organized a seminar to discuss corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China, with a particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS (the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) and breast cancer. The seminar was attended by concerned individuals and representatives of multinational corporations operating in China, Chinese medical organizations, media and non-governmental organizations.

Martin said, “AmCham has become more involved in encouraging corporate social responsibility in the last couple of years; this is very important to us.”

During the seminar, Han Mengjie, deputy director of China’s National Center for AIDS Control and Prevention, said the Chinese Government recognizes the threat of HIV/AIDS in China.

Han said the government is doing what it can to improve HIV/AIDS surveillance and reporting and to improve its understanding of the problem with the acquisition of better HIV/AIDS data.

He said China is using World Health Organization methods to estimate the number of HIV/AIDS cases in China. There are now about 840,000 suspected HIV/AIDS victims in the country, 89,067 of them confirmed. He said there were 5,024 deaths from AIDS in China in 2004 and that incidences of AIDS are growing at about 30 percent per year. Forty percent of current AIDS sufferers are women, up from 15 percent in 1995. Sadly, only about 10,000 of those stricken are getting adequate AIDS treatment at this time.

Han said the government hopes to cap the expansion of the disease at about 1.5 million, but he said if effective action isn’t taken soon, that figure could easily balloon to 10 million cases by 2010.

As in Western countries, intravenous drug users are among those most at-risk, but he said the government is aware that the illness is spreading into the general population. Henan Province leads the country in HIV/AIDS prevalence, along with Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, followed by Guangdong Province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Central Chinese provinces, with isolated cases of higher incidences in various other places around the country.

Han said the government is responding on many levels.

During 2004, both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao met with and shook hands with AIDS sufferers to bring attention to the problem and to counter the social stigma associated with AIDS that interferes with epidemic control, treatment and the quality of the lives of AIDS sufferers.

The State Council has formed a State Council Coordinating Commission on AIDS directed by Vice-Premier Wu Yi, who opened the National AIDS Conference in April 2004. The commission is working closely with the Ministry of Health and Vice-Minister Wang Longde.

The State Council has also issued “Seven Requirements in the State Council’s Call,” relating to the battle against AIDS.

The requirements included: focusing attention on the HIV/AIDS problem and the assignment of responsibility to officials at all levels; assigning priority to the problem, along with a requirement that programmes be created and implemented at appropriate levels nationwide, focusing first on education and prevention; improving disease surveillance techniques and upgrading reporting of incidences of HIV/AIDS; providing relief to AIDS sufferers, including a supply of medicine, whether people can afford to pay or not; the establishment of demonstration screening, treatment and counselling centres in 127 counties nationwide; improvements in treatment; and working with international organizations with anti-AIDS capabilities that employ “best practices” for controlling the disease.

This work is very important, Han said, because researchers do not know the actual HIV/AIDS status of about 90 percent of the Chinese population. The task of collecting data about the extent of the problem in China is enormous.

Han said free medicine will be provided to all rural HIV/AIDS sufferers and to urban residents if they cannot afford counselling or treatment.

He said China is also concentrating on preventing the mother-to-newborn spread of HIV, with some success.

He called upon international organizations to assist with the training of medical people needed to assist the Chinese population.

Elizabeth Knup of the AmCham Committee for Social Responsibility, said the committee is organizing fund-raising activities to benefit AIDS sufferers in China, along with programmes to aid women and children in need.

Knup said AmCham is also assisting the Skills Share Programme, which organizes volunteers from foreign corporations to assist Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with their work. Knup said skills in high demand are general management expertise; communications and Web site development assistance; and assistance with organizational governance.

One business group assisting in the effort against AIDS is the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS: China Business and AIDS Working Group.

Felicia Pullen who works at APCO China, but who also serves with the coalition, said 27 companies are working to battle AIDS in China, while several others are preparing to get involved.

She said action is needed at all levels, from the workplace to the support of Chinese Government’s anti-AIDS policies.

Pullen cited Bayer, LaFarge and SOHU.com as outstanding examples of what corporations can do to help.

She said an anti-AIDS summit will be held in May 2005 to bring more attention to the battle against HIV/AIDS; Vice-Premier Wu Yi has already confirmed she will provide a keynote speech during the meeting.

But breast cancer is also a growing menace to Chinese women. It is now the No. 1 cause of death of women in Shanghai, No. 2 in Beijing and Tianjin, and is the leading killer of women around the world, according to Dr. Xu Guangwei, who addressed the seminar.

Xu, who will head a government-backed screening and testing programme, said that even though incidences of breast cancer are relatively low in rural areas of China, incidences are growing both there and in urban areas.

He cited differences in the occurrence of the disease in China and in the West. In the West, breast cancer strikes women who are mostly more than 60 years old. In China, the disease strikes women predominantly in the 45-50 year-old range.

Early detection of the disease is the best way to assure a woman’s survival, but he said more needs to be done to achieve early detection in China, because of the special needs of Chinese women.

To this end, Xu said the Chinese Government is setting up a breast cancer screening programme that will operate at between 80 and 100 locations in China. About 10,000–15,000 people will be screened at each location. Women who participate will get health insurance from the government and treatment if cancer is found.

Testing is expected to range from self-examinations to mammography and the use of ultrasound techniques.

Xu said special training will be given to those conducting the screening, which he will supervise, to ensure satisfactory data collection, which will allow a proper analysis of the extent of the prevalence of breast cancer in China.

During the seminar, Wang Xingrong of Estee Lauder Companies, said her company had used its market presence to support its “Pink Ribbon” anti-breast cancer programme.

In this effort, every employee of Estee Lauder is responsible for the Pink Ribbon programme, which includes passing out information useful to women at every Estee Lauder retail outlet. The company has also used its market strength to attract celebrities and important personages to its cause.

In addition, a percentage of earnings from the sale of certain Estee Lauder Pink Ribbon products are directed to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation which is dedicated to the battle against breast cancer, with an emphasis on the early detection of the disease.

Through concerts in Beijing and other Pink Ribbon activities, the company has generated more than 250 articles in various Chinese media outlets, which has brought attention to the company’s programme.

Dr. Michael Moreton of the Beijing United Family Hospitals and Clinics (BJU) in Beijing and Shanghai said his clinic will support the battle against a disease that “takes away our mothers, wives and daughters at inappropriate ages.”

BJU, a joint venture of Chindex International and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, will offer a reduced-price special breast-cancer-screening programme at its hospitals in March. The normal US$200 breast-cancer screening price will be reduced to US$150 in March. BJU will also hold a cost-free women’s health fair at its clinic at No. 2 Jiangtai Lu in Chaoyang District on March 11-12.

See detailed presentations of the AmCham-sponsored seminar at the American Chamber of Commerce, Beijing: http://www.amcham-china.org.cn/

See also: the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS at: http://www.businessfightsaids.org/

United Family Hospitals and Clinics, Beijing: http://www.bjunited.com.cn/

Estee Lauder Pink Ribbon Campaign: http://www.elcompanies.com/htm/