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Media Digest
THIS WEEK> THIS WEEK NO. 50, 2014> PEOPLE & POINTS> Media Digest
UPDATED: December 9, 2014 NO. 50 DECEMBER 11, 2014
Media Digest
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More Tolerance, Less Discrimination

Beijing Morning Post

December 1

This year's World AIDS Day looked to increase tolerance to people living with HIV/AIDS and address people's discrimination against the disease. HIV/AIDS has long been regarded as an incurable disease like cancer, though perhaps more terrifying in that it is contagious. Misunderstandings about how it is transferred between people have become one of the main reasons why people with HIV/AIDS are discriminated against.

Thanks to rapid medical progress, HIV can be controlled to a large degree if discovered at an early stage and treated with anti-viral medication. People with the virus can live a normal life. However, the number of people infected with HIV is growing. In Beijing for example, cases of HIV increased by 21 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period of last year. Of the newly discovered cases, 49.6 percent were transferred from homosexual intercourse.

Because of the discrimination in Chinese society against people with the disease, many of those who have been infected are afraid of telling others or going to hospital for treatment, which increases the possibility of further infection to their sexual partners or anyone who may come in contact with their blood such as medical personnel.

Discrimination against HIV/AIDS will not easily be overcome. It's important to increase people's understanding of the disease and encourage safe sex practices. To meet the goal of "getting to zero," tolerance and a healthy way of life are needed.

Critical Illness Headache

Outlook Weekly

November 24

For a certain number of middle- and low-income families in China's rural areas, their attitudes toward disease are similar: Trivial little diseases are neglected, serious diseases are to be endured and extremely serious diseases are a trip to hell and back. The difficulty in getting medical treatment and high medical costs are a tough topic most people have to face up to. Although the country is trying to improve its medical insurance system, on which impoverished patients' biggest hopes are pinned, numerous problems make this dream difficult to achieve.

In poor areas, patients with serious diseases, particularly incurable ones, will have to give up medical treatment and wait to die. The poorer the family is, the more likely the treatment will be delayed and the more serious the disease will become. Some diseases are at first treatable, but owning to the delays they become fatal.

The new rural cooperative medical system has been strengthened in recent years, which encourages rural patients to seek better medical treatment. However, a shortage of quality medical resources, insurance and aid still looms over their heads. Due to huge capital demand and limited resources, it's not possible for China's basic healthcare insurance system to meet all patients' needs. Civil affair departments may provide families with up to 30,000 yuan ($4,900) in aid, but such a sum can do little to help patients with critical diseases.

Industrial Design Matters

Oriental Outlook

December 4

Industrial design, the act of creating new products, is empowering Chinese manufacturing enterprises to rid themselves of the status of being mere subcontracting workshops.

A fundamental issue concerning industrial design is that design is a product of well-developed manufacturing businesses. Without a good manufacturing foundation, it's impossible to create new brands. The good news is that together with the maturing industrial chain, the protection of intellectual property rights is improving in China.

The problem remains that although the cost of design is quite small compared to that of the whole program, not many companies are willing to take the risk. Moreover, in other places, industrial design companies focus on designing, but in China, such companies have to cover the whole line, which might mean a lack of emphasis on the importance of design.

China is a big exporter of merchandise, but it mainly depends on quantity. By involving industrial design in product structure and quality, Chinese companies will be able to win bigger market shares. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Chinese Government is planning to set up national industrial design centers to train future talent.



 
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