Download
'Karen" has donated blood six times since she was a college student in 2006, despite the fact that as a lesbian she was banned from doing so until an amendment to the blood donor health requirements came into effect on July 1.
"I'm healthy. Sexual orientation has no relation to blood safety, it just depends on whether you engage in risky behavior or not," said the 26-year-old.
Common Language, a community-based support and rights group for lesbian, bisexual women and people who are transgender, conducted a survey in 2008 of 21 lesbians and bisexuals. The result showed that all the interviewees had donated blood and 14 of them had donated more than twice.
Two were initially refused as donors when they revealed their sexual orientation but when they went to other centers and kept quiet about their sexuality they were both accepted as donors.
The survey also found that the blood of only one of the 21 donors could not be used and that was because of tuberculosis.
Acknowledging that lesbians are low-risk donors, the Ministry of Health revised the regulation introduced in 2001 that prohibited all homosexuals from giving blood.
However, the regulation still prohibits gay men from donating blood, along with drug addicts and people with multiple sexual partners.
"The revised regulation focuses on actions of donors that might compromise blood safety instead of highlighting certain groups of people," said Gao Dongying, deputy director of the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center.
The Ministry of Health says the regulations covering blood donations are aimed at protecting recipients of transfusions from exposure to potentially infected blood and blood products.
Its data indicate that, as a group, men who have sex with men are more likely to get HIV and other contagious diseases than individuals in other categories.
According to the ministry, about 3 percent of Chinese men who have sex with other men are HIV positive, a percentage that is far higher than the average for the population as a whole. It estimates that in 2011 there were 48,000 new cases in the country and the virus had been sexually transmitted in 81.6 percent of these. The proportion for the period between 1985 and 2005 was only 11.6 percent.
However, under the new amendment, the forms will inform donors that they are liable for any damages arising from problems with their blood if they knowingly give false information.
Questions:
1. When did the amendment to the blood donor health requirements come into effect?
2. In 2011 how many new cases of HIV were there?
3. About how may Chinese men who have sex with other men are HIV positive?
Answers
1. July 1.
2. 48,000.
3. 3 percent.
About the broadcaster:
Rosie Tuck is a copy editor at the China Daily website. She was born in New Zealand and graduated from Auckland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Communications studies majoring in journalism and television. In New Zealand she was working as a junior reporter for the New Zealand state broadcaster TVNZ. She is in Beijing on an Asia New Zealand Foundation grant, working as a journalist in the English news department at the China Daily website.
2011年实用口语练习:各种哭的说法(一)
2011年实用口语练习:高考作弊
日常口语精华集2
2011年实用口语练习:今日事今日毕
2011年实用口语练习:今天我做东
英文单词 “Do”的活用
2011年实用口语练习:课余阅读
2011年实用口语练习:劝君“上当”一回
英文结婚短信祝福语
实用口语:关于衣服的必备短语
2011年实用口语练习:与天气有关的口语(下)
2011年实用口语练习:“锅中的火花”
2011年实用口语练习:接待用语
张柏芝谢霆锋正式离婚(双语)
2011年实用口语练习:睡或不睡
2011年实用口语练习:你担心什么呢?
2011年实用口语练习:各种睡不着
2011年实用口语练习:是鲁莽还是勇气可嘉
2011年实用口语练习:英语客套话
2011年实用口语练习:Assignment 家庭作业
如何提高英语口语
2011年实用口语练习:“挑刺儿”
2011年实用口语练习:同性恋的种种
2011年实用口语练习:我是无辜的
2011年实用口语练习:别想宰我,我识货
英语口语-商业信函用语正文
英语口语-害羞
对学英语最有帮助的英文绕口令
2011年实用口语练习:我办事你放心
如何用英文表达“满意”
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |