Deep blue finds it hard to get enough funding and condoms to educate people about sex

Yang Jie, founder of NGO Deep Blue, says getting a steady supply of condoms is a tough job. Provided to China Daily

Deep Blue, a non-governmental organization that provides advice and healthcare to mostly homosexuals and university students in and around Tianjin, says it is in desperate shortage of its most important form of help condoms.

Zhao Zheng, who is in charge of university HIV/AIDS prevention projects at Deep Blue, says they are struggling to obtain condoms from suppliers.

"We are helping the government look after gay and young people," Zhao says.

"Condoms are urgently needed right now. We have never received condoms or donations from domestic condom manufacturers.

They usually hang up the phone after they find out we are NGO workers."

In a country where homosexuality, the sex industry and condoms have always been taboo, Deep Blue aims to educate and inform the public on the importance of condoms within the homosexual community. Its main focus is on homosexuals and youths.

"Our main task is giving free condoms to homosexuals and let them know the importance of using them. It is our responsibility to prevent vulnerable groups from contacting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)," says Yang Jie, the 42-year-old founder of Deep Blue.

Founded in 2004, the NGO currently has nine workers and a 150-square-meter office in the North China metropolis of Tianjin.

The NGO often organizes more than 100 volunteers for large public events.

Yang's team provides free physical examinations and affordable healthcare to gay groups, especially homosexuals who are HIV-positive or living with AIDS.

Deep Blue's funds, Yang says, mainly come from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Tianjin, the Red Cross Society of China and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

But Zhao says it has become more difficult in obtaining condoms because many sponsors think that they won't benefit financially from working with NGOs.

Zhao also says that popular overseas condom brands have no intention of helping NGOs like Deep Blue. Only some companies from the United States and Europe offer a limited number of condoms or funds.

US-based Trojan Condoms was once a supporter of Deep Blue and provided large quantities of condoms when it came to China several years ago.

Yang says the company ended the sponsorship after it pulled back from the Chinese market.

"Deep Blue will continue to give condoms to gays and college students. We would purchase more from Chinese companies if we cannot obtain enough condoms from foreign sponsors this year," Yang says.

Since 2005, Yang and his colleagues have given more than 450,000 condoms to gays and university students in and around Tianjin.

Today, Deep Blue supports basic healthcare to more than 300 HIV/AIDS gay patients in Tianjin. It has so far helped 215 patients set up personal files and routine care schedules.

The spread of HIV is, of course, not limited to homosexuals and youths. China's underground sex industry is also a major conduit.

A 2009 report by UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, said in China about 37 million men are estimated to be clients of female sex workers and that 60 percent do not regularly use condoms.

In recent years, there has been an increase in HIV/AIDS cases among men who are having sex with other men, according to the central government website article, which however does not give a figure.

Deep Blue has recognized that fact. Volunteers are actively going to pubs, bathhouses, nightclubs, public toilets, parks and cinemas to pass out condoms and information fliers.

Unfortunately, many of the volunteers have been beaten by people who misunderstand or hate the NGO's work, Yang says.

"We have to bear the consequence unconditionally as many people think we are freaks or we trick normal men into being gay. The police sometimes just ignore us after our volunteers are beaten or rudely treated by people," Yang says.

UNAIDS estimated that in 2009, 740,000 Chinese were living with HIV. Among them, 105,000 were estimated to have AIDS.

By the end of August of last year, there were 361,599 cases of HIV-positive patients in China, including 127,203 AIDS cases and 65,104 recorded deaths from the disease, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Zhang Konglai, deputy director of the AIDS consulting committee at the Ministry of Health, says the problem is a lack of knowledge. Many people, he says, often have unprotected sex and don't know that condoms can prevent HIV.

"If more NGOs help the government prevent the spread of AIDS among the population, the work of AIDS prevention in China will make remarkable progress," Zhang says.

On Feb 16, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said public awareness of HIV/AIDS control should be stepped up and more should be done to detect carriers and reduce the chances of HIV spreading between mothers and babies and between other groups.

The State Council also stressed efforts to improve care for HIV carriers and AIDS patients, and protect their rights, particularly in healthcare service, employment and schooling.