title: Nurturing compassion through care-giving and care-receiving: the changing moral economy of AIDs in China.
abstract: Based on the case study of an Aids clinic operated in Nanning by MSF, this paper looks at how one international NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders), deals with the HIV-carrier patients in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province in China. It explores the process of care-giving to the HIV patients by MSF employees (both foreign and local) and how the patients react to the 'care-receiving' provided by this foreign NGO. This is especially pertinent in China today as HIV-patients are the victims of discriminating policies and are still very much discriminated by the general population. MSF, viewed by the victims as a foreign NGO, is regarded as an organization seen as promoting a changing and compassionate attitude toward AIDs patients through their anonymous and non-discriminating practices. Through the practices and the discourse of MSF workers and the testimonies of the patients, this paper looks at how the moral economy of AIDs is evolving from a repressive and discriminative attitude towards the compassionate attention to individual suffering. As such, MSF, through its actions, is seen as one of the agents promoting attitudinal changes toward disadvantaged groups and is facilitating the emergence of an emotional and compassionate subject.
authors.affiliation: a University of Hong Kong, Sociology , Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Khun Eng
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Kuah-Pearce
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guiheux
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D000328:Adult; D060432:Anthropology, Medical; D002681:China; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009014:Morals; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration; D057545:Social Stigma
keywords: HIV victims; care-giving; care-receiving; innovative and free Aids/HIV treatment; moral economy