Listen, secret!: issues and research by children affected by HIV/AIDS in Xinjiang and Yunnan, China

This report presents the findings of a research programme in two locations in China that are heavily affected by HIV/AIDS; Yining City in Yili Prefecture and Yingjiang County in Dehong Prefecture. This report from focuses on the main concerns of children in these areas: the definitions of children in difficulties, their difficulties and expectations, and particularly, the impact of HIV/AIDS upon children.

High HIV-prevalence in both areas stems from intravenous drug use, and their proximity to drug production areas in the `Golden Crescent’ and the `Golden Triangle’. These circumstances have tended to result in a focus on issues related to adults, with less attention paid to children, hence this research. Children are not a single, stereotypical group, and their circumstances, ideas and issues vary by location as well as age, gender and other aspects of human diversity.

Findings include:

• common concerns shared by children in Xinjiang and Yunnan include the health of family members and the loss of parents. Concerns of children about access to school and the health of family members are interrelated. Access to schooling affects both the future of children and their present lives, and children in both Yunnan and Xinjiang are aware of the association between education and employment
• many children have experienced the impact of discrimination resulting from HIV/AIDS upon their lives: friendships, their self-esteem and dignity are all affected by discrimination. As viewed by children, `mental torment’ (emotional and psychological pain), lack of self-confidence, stigma and discrimination, constitute other major difficulties for them
• in the workshops in both Xinjiang and Yunnan, children debated vulnerability – defining who are children in difficulty and what makes those children's lives become hard. Children in both areas suggested that disabled children experience difficulties; they also emphasised the impact of disasters upon them. Nevertheless, only those children in Yunnan explicitly suggested that children living with or orphaned by HIV/AIDS and homeless children experience difficulties.

Recommendations include:

• the development of community-based children’s centres to provide training, education (formal and non-formal) and to promote participation, inclusion and psychosocial support
• strengthening co-operation and integrated work between government departments and other agencies
• mobilisation of care from relatives for children and development of fostering
• promotion and development of child friendly schools
• promotion of access to education
• development of community-based health and hygiene programmes.