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Hepatitis: What you should know
When reading a story about distress, some are moved by emotion, others are affected by numbers; whereas, many are indifferent to both. For example, in a newspaper, we can read about a plane crash and be saddened. We can actually see a vivid picture of the carnage, and be horrified. The unfortunate reality is that, we forget the subject within five minutes. With medical news, there is a tendency to distance ourselves from the subject because of fear. “If I do not know about it, it won’t hurt me.” Ignoring or failing to address the condition makes it worse for everyone.
Hepatitis is a little-publicized group of diseases, with Hepatitis B and C virus strains being the most destructive. In particular, the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) affects more that 400 million people worldwide (that is almost more than the population of Canada, the United States, and Mexico put together). It can be transmitted through DNA, blood-transfusion and other means. The illness can bring death through liver failure or liver cancer in a significant number of cases (An estimated 1 million people die each year from HBV and its complications, that is about two deaths each minute worldwide.)
The human cost is staggering. In China, if a child is born with HBV, he can expect a lifetime of misery. Before the child is even in kindergarten, he must submit to a government-sponsored, mandatory, non-confidential blood test. As soon as the result shows he has HBV, he is usually barred from the local school, with no possible means of appeal. The problem gets worse when the sufferer is forced to take another blood test as a condition to get into university. Again, the test is not confidential; therefore, anyone connected with the school can know the sufferer’s results. This encourages various departments to discriminate, and not allow the student to enter his chosen program. In some extreme cases, the university’s officers publicly throw the sufferer’s belongings off the campus. Assuming the sufferer surmounts the previous obstacles, he now is subject to the discrimination (both overt and covert) of the work sector. The blood test is public knowledge, therefore; because of the large stigma attached, employment opportunities are scarce. The scenario is worse in the public-sector. To compound the problem, most foreign multinational companies operating in China are given government consent to administer their own blood tests.
The reaction of society is always that of fear and intolerance. If a man wants to marry, and the girl’s family hears about his HBV, they frequently fight to stop the marriage.
Further, an individual wanting to migrate to a more advantageous city, needs to secure a permit, and this is dependent upon having a negative HBV result.
HBV envelops every part of the sufferer’s life. Everyday is a challenge. The sufferer has to constantly fight against depression and hopelessness. When he is a child, he feels he is different, unwanted and alone. The school does not want him, some parents keep their children away from him, and he learns to be secretive. The same happens in the university and workforce, making each day panic-ridden. Relationships are difficult to keep, and questions are frequently asked: The sufferer feels that everybody has the right to their own life except for him. His enemy is not the disease—it is human ignorance.
The cure for this disease might be years away, but the immediate relief can come from compassion, tolerance and understanding.
我有一篇基本情况介绍的英文文稿，请了大学里教文学的给润色的。我过去曾转发给很多媒体。可以用这个做基本背景情况介绍。
[ 本帖最后由 特深沉 于 2009-8-9 07:09 编辑 ] |
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楼主: 受治疗的鱼
发表于 2009-8-9 02:06
