Canada: HIV-positive Asians suffering in silence

By Amy Chow. Jul 27 2006
Resource centre helps break solitude, shame

When Elrick Lu tested positive for HIV in January 1997, he thought
of suicide. At that time, his knowledge of AIDS was limited: all he
knew was that it was a deadly disease. He was 26 years old, a
cocaine/heroin user, and living on the streets of the Downtown
Eastside. Lu was stunned by the results. He fell into a depression,
and continued to use drugs.

After a three-month hospital stay, Lu decided he was sick of his
lifestyle — tired of the vicious cycle of using drugs and ending up
in jail.

Today, he's been clean for six years, working as an outreach worker
and peer counsellor for the Asian Society for the Intervention of
AIDS (ASIA), a non-profit organization committed to providing
culturally appropriate education and support to the Asian community
on HIV/AIDS and related issues.

The Asian community "has not acknowledged that AIDS is a reality.
There's a general feeling in the Asian community that AIDS is
something that Asians don't have, Asians don't get," says ASIA co-
chair Michael Wong. Wong says Asians don't believe they're
promiscuous or careless regarding safe sex and that some Asians
still deny there are homosexuals or drug users in their society.

AIDS to them, he says, is a Caucasian problem.

The assumption is dangerous. Every day in B.C., between one and two
people contract HIV and join the estimated 13,000 British Columbians
already living with the disease, according to the B.C. Ministry of
Health, Planning, and Health Services. National estimates suggest
that as many as one-third of those with HIV may not know they're
infected, and may be spreading the virus.

According to 2004 figures from the province's Centre for Disease
Control (BCCDC) Asian, South Asian, and Arab/West Asian populations
account for a mere 5.9 per cent of new HIV positive tests
(Caucasians account for 57.5 per cent). Since the number of Asians
getting tested for the virus is low in proportion to the general
population, Wong believes this is a drastic underestimate of HIV-
positive Asians.

Wong attributes Asians' reticence about getting tested to denial and
fear of the social repercussions of a positive test. Archaic ideas
about the disease persist, he says: no one will hug you, use the
same bathroom, shake your hand, or even visit your house if you are
HIV positive.

The purpose of ASIA, Wong explains, "is to say that `yes, you can
get AIDS because culture and race doesn't prevent you from getting
it. You can get AIDS through different means: intravenous drugs,
unprotected intercourse, being gay or heterosexual. Education is the
key by which individuals can protect themselves."

For years, ASIA, based in Chinatown's core, has tried to make
inroads in the Chinese community. But their participation in the
Asian Heritage Parade last May was abruptly cancelled.

Wong explains their difficulty getting into their parade as "one of
the reasons has been that we're viewed as a political organization
even though our primary focus is on education... the idea of AIDS is
still thought to be a Caucasian problem, to acknowledge our
organization in Asian Heritage Month may not be appropriate for
whatever reasons."

Evan Mo, case manager at AIDS Vancouver, believes Asians know they
can get AIDS, but agrees that there is fear, and a lack of knowledge
about how to prevent the spread of the disease. Mo says many Asians
feel HIV-positive status leads to embarrassment within the family
and community.

"A lot of people choose to hide when they're healthy – afraid of
shaming the family." Some of his clients choose to tell their
families they have cancer, because, "people will speculate how you
got it, sex or drugs." The rationalization? Cancer is a victimless
disease, whereas with AIDS, people may still be judgmental.

Susan (who doesn't want her last name used) thinks it would be
disastrous if she told her parents she tested positive for HIV after
being raped. After her test, she avoided her friends for five years,
and kept her HIV status a secret for six years. Susan says Asians
don't want to see that there's a problem, and prefer to think of
this disease as a Western problem. "Asians are very sensitive about
talking about HIV/AIDS; their really embarrassed. In our culture we
don't talk about sex or drug use, they're evil things."

Susan says she thinks the low HIV testing rates among Asians can be
attributed to cultural assumptions.

"They think that Chinese people are clean; they're better than
Western people. A lot of Chinese men and older people think that
Western people are dirty; Western people are really open about sex
and that's not right."

Susan, a volunteer with ASIA, was the first Asian to participate in
an AIDS retreat with British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society. "I
think for Asian people the main problem is that it's hard to talk
about your problems in general and about HIV specifically.

"It was very helpful to go to this retreat and be with other women
who have the same problem... We need help, we need understanding and
we need to learn more about our problems."

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