Now, there's nothing wrong with getting the word out about HIV, and a foreigner who knows where he or she can get a free, anonymous test is better than one who doesn't. However, because those who test positive are deported, people who might be at risk will thus be afraid to come forward. So I guess theoretically the test has only a 50% chance of anonymity.
The person who sent this to me asked what Work n' Play was really saying by putting up such a banner on a site used mostly by foreign English teachers. I do agree that in spite of the benefits of knowing where to get tested, it does send the message that we're, well, risky. But then again my site has advertisements for Korean dating sites, and though they are out of my control it probably doesn't look good for someone from a demographic so frequently stereotyped here as preying on Korean women.
In case you're curious, there's another testing center in Gwangju. I used to have stats for Gwangju, but the link's broken; this blog gives numbers for new cases in Gwangju from 2002-2006. Here are stats for Korea as a whole, though I can't find region-by-region breakdowns. There were 797 new cases last year. The UN says there are an estimated 13,000 Koreans living with AIDS here. The actual number is probably much higher because, as AIDS Prevention Association Director Shin Surin says:
Stigma and discrimination toward HIV/AIDS has also greatly hindered prevention efforts . . . [T]he HIV/AIDS testing rate in Korea is low be-cause people are afraid of the stigma attached to the disease . . . Saving face in Korean culture is very important, and the combination of low public awareness and the potential stigma associated with a positive diagnosis leads many people to not check their HIV/AIDS status . . . Prejudice and discrimination are among the worst fears of PLWHA. As long as stigma, prejudice, and discrimination persist in society, it is easy to imagine that the HIV testing rate will remain low.
You can find that on page 163 of this report (.pdf file), though I took that passage out of "The Wagner Report." Pages 24-31 deal with HIV/AIDS.
And, just to throw this out there, HIV-positive travellers are generally banned from entering the US.
5 comments:
That's exactly it. The free test is only a true benefit to the Korean government. "Look, we just deported X HIV positive foreigners last year!" Think about what would happen to you immediately if you even had a false positive?
They no longer deport those that test positive. The Supreme Court has ruled that to do so would be unconstitutional. foreigners living in Korea are protected by their constitution and human rights laws.
One could get an anonymous free AIDS test in Korea even before the deportation rules kicked in. I was thankful for the information in English, since I wasn't sure about those Korean women I slept with.
A person who is HIV positive isallowed to enter the USA, if he or she has a visa waiver.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/529439
http://community.worldaidscampaign.net/showthread.php?t=322
A Finnish friend of mine who is HIV+ told me about the ban, but since Finns are part of the visa waiver program he could have slipped into the USA without anyone knowing.
Ironically, it was President Bush who pledged to get rid of the ban, a ban put in place by a Democratic Congress and President.
@brent
"Think about what would happen to you immediately if you even had a false positive?"
- Nice point. Thats scary, however the chance of having a false positive result is very very slim especially these days. And also the statistical distribution of a false positive test is more or less the same as a false negative test. Think about what would happen to you, your gf/wife, partners etc if you had a false negative test?
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