8-year-old HIV patient ostracized by villagers
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 18, 2014
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Villagers sign a joint letter asking the authorities to expel Kunkun from the village. The boy himself stood to the side, watching. [Photo/sc.people.cn] |
Villagers in southwestern China's Sichuan Province recently signed a joint letter trying to drive an eight-year-old boy with AIDS out of their village.
The boy, Kunkun (pseudonym), tested positive for HIV when he was hospitalized for an injury around his eyes in 2012. Since then, the villagers have been avoidng him for fear of being infected with the deadly disease.
On the evening of Dec. 7, a dozen villagers held a meeting at the home of the village head to try to figure out a way to expel the boy from the village.
"The whole village unanimously asks the relevant authorities to treat Kunkun in isolation and take him out of the village in order to ensure the health of the adults and children of the village," the village head said during the meeting. Eventually, a total of 203 villagers, including Kunkun's grandfather, who claims he is too weak to take care of the boy, signed the joint letter.
The village chief told local media that the villagers sympathize with the boy, but interviews with some villagers found that they would not allow their children to play with the boy for fear of being infected with the disease.
Kunkun's grandfather told local media that the boy was infected with the virus by his mother during her pregnancy. Upon learning that Kunkun had the disease in 2012, Kunkun's father, a migrant worker who met Kunkun's mother when she was already pregnant with the boy, left and has not come home for three years. Kunkun's mother left the village five years ago.
Local authorities reportedly did not receive the joint letter signed by the villagers, and the township chief has promised not to drive the boy out of the village. The local disease control center said they would provide the boy with free medicines now that his disease had proceeded into the stage in which medication may be necessary.
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