Xi urges China to ‘step up’ HIV/Aids fight
December 1, 2013, 6:40 am

Xi visits an HIV-positive patient as part of World Aids Day events in 2012 [Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote in a recent letter to the country’s Communist Party that government and social institutions must do more toward the prevention and control of HIV/Aids.

Doing so, he said concerns people’s life and health, and social harmony and stability.

The Chinese President said that the country must implement all legal and scientific methods and policies it has at its disposal, but also stressed that the Communist Party must work with the public to eliminate discrimination against HIV carriers and patients with Aids.

Xi urged all sectors of society to contribute “timely and effective treatment and support for HIV carriers and Aids patients”.

China’s HIV prevalence remains low, the Ministry of Health said in a March 2012 report prepared for the UNAIDS Progress Report, but more cases have been reported every year since 2007.

The report estimated that there are 780,000 people living with HIV in China

According to Chinese media reports, Beijing has this year increased by more than 10 per cent monies in a special fund allocated in the fight against the deadly disease.

Raising awareness

This December 1 marks the 25th observance of World Aids Day, an international event to raise awareness of the virus which has killed more than 25 million people around the world.

This year, the UNAIDS organisation is launching the Getting to Zero (#Zerodiscrimination)campaign to inform the public about the continuing stigma that people with HIV and/or Aids face around the world.

The campaign will also highlight some of the restrictions and punitive policies patients continue to endure.

Source: Agencies