Improving administration, legislation and public education will be essential to any effort to counter discrimination against people with diseases, says a commentary by Beijing News. The following is an excerpt:

The Ministry of Health reported that there are about 120 million Chinese carrying the Hepatitis B virus. Many of them have experienced severe discrimination while seeking jobs.

The authorities are planning to tighten rules against such discrimination and help virus carriers get access to legal aid for lawsuits against discriminating employers, a Health Ministry official said. The legislators will even include a ban on discrimination against virus carriers in the draft law on employment promotion.

These are indeed encouraging developments, but more should be done than just the creation of a single law. People with viruses, whether Hepatitis B, HIV or other types, must have their privacy protected. Businesses should not be allowed to deny employment to such people.

Arrangements should also be made to make it easier to enforce legal stipulations against employment discrimination.

If employers do not state explicitly that they are refusing a job applicant because he or she carries a virus, it is very difficult for a court to rule that discrimination has taken place.

Multiple efforts should be made in different areas to tackle employment discrimination against virus carriers. These should include reforming administrative regulations and revising the civil rights law.

Discrimination against virus carriers, whether it involves employment or other areas of life, originates from fear and ignorance about diseases. The government could reduce such ignorance with more public education about healthcare issues.

However, it would also harm the interests of others if employers were not told that a future employee was infected with a virus, especially when the employers are engaged in special sectors, like food-processing or health care.

(China Daily 07/19/2007 page10)