Journalism school visiting scholar (’07) Lin Gu continues his writing on China’s HIV/AIDS problem (see his January Covering Asia “Viewpoints” piece on the topic here) with a guest column for the UNDP’s YouAndAids website on two Chinese women who recently discovered they were HIV-positive:

The young women grew up on the same street facing Pingxiang People’s Hospital, and were inseparable friends. Later in life, they shared needles with mutual drug buddies, and were sent together in early 1998 to a re-education labour camp in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They were given a term of 5 years by the local public security bureau, but were suddenly sent back home on August 2, 1998, without explanation.

“I guess the only possible reason is that we had tested positive for HIV, for we both had three blood tests in Nanning before being sent back,” says Lu, adding she wasn’t surprised when the Pingxiang health centre confirmed her suspicions.

Read the rest of the piece here