China: ‘Four Frees and One Care’

Xian Dongfei, age 16, has been living with his neighbours since the death of his parents from AIDS-related illness six years ago. “No one took care of him after his parents died. As neighbours, we took him home, and Dongfei now helps us with some farming and housework. But we are not able to send him to school.”

At first, fear and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS affected Dongfei and his adopted family. For example, the family faced financial ruin when many of the local villagers stopped buying noodles from the family business because they believed they could be infected with HIV just from eating food supplied by Dongfei’s adopted family.

Support arrived from the Women’s Federation, who came to eat noodles with Dongfei’s family for all to see. Gradually, the misplaced fear among the community has been replaced by a better understanding of HIV/AIDS and support for children affected by HIV/AIDS. Community support helps children orphaned by AIDS gain access to school, health care and financial assistance, while promoting a friendly family and community environment.

UNICEF has been working jointly with other partners to achieve recognition at the highest levels of China’s government of the severity of the threat from HIV/AIDS. This has yielded constructive results from national leadership, including a well-resourced commitment to prevention and a package of services on treatment, care and support. The government has expanded its ‘Four Frees and One Care’ policy: free ARV drugs, free prevention of mother-to-child transmission, free voluntary counselling and testing, free schooling for children orphaned by AIDS, and care to people living with HIV/AIDS to a total of 127 sites nationwide.

Recently, Dongfei directly benefited from these initiatives when he was supported to return to school.