Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C) hugs
three kids, whose parents passed away due to HIV/AIDS, in Fuyang
prefecture, east China's Anhui Province, Nov. 29, 2008. Wen visited people
living with HIV/AIDS and workers dealing with the disease in Fuyang over
the weekend, prior to the World AIDS Day which falls on December 1.
(Xinhua/Rao Aimin) Photo Gallery>>>
HEFEI, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
visited people living with HIV/AIDS and thanked workers dealing with the disease
in the eastern Anhui Province over the weekend.
Wen told a special symposium composed of AIDS experts
and grassroots medical workers in Funan County, that government funds for
prevention and control would increase year-by-year.
The Ministry of Health said on Sunday that 264,302
people in China were reported to contract HIV, of whom there were 77,753 AIDS
patients, by the end of September, while 34,864 people died of AIDS.
However, according to a joint estimation of the
ministry, UNAIDS and WHO, there were some 700,000 Chinese living with HIV/AIDS
by the end of 2007.
Wen said anti-viral medication should be listed in
the country's basic medicine catalogue.
He went on to say AIDS control and prevention was "of
vital importance" as it was directly linked to the lives and health of the
masses. Efforts should be strengthened in high-incidence regions and within
specific groups, Wen said.
"The Chinese people are proven to have the
confidence, resolution and ability to do a good job of AIDS prevention and
control."
The premier stressed that various Party committees
and governments should put the AIDS issue at the top of agendas and ensure that
policies really benefited patients and their families.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) shakes
hands with an HIV/AIDS patient at Funan county in Fuyang prefecture, east
China's Anhui Province, Nov. 29, 2008. Wen visited people living with
HIV/AIDS and workers dealing with the disease in Fuyang over the weekend,
prior to the World AIDS Day which falls on December 1.(Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
DOOR-TO-DOOR
VISIT
Upon his arrival in Yingzhou District, Fuyang City of
Anhui on Saturday afternoon, Wen went to the home of Huang Jinhong, a high
schoolgirl whose parents died of AIDS. Huang and her sister and brother were
invited by Wen to the Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership's Beijing compound,
two years ago when the premier chatted with them and inquired about their needs.
With a red ribbon on his bosom, Wen embraced the
three children and inquired about their study and life. He was very glad to see
the children, together with their grandmother in her 80s, had obtained living
subsidies for families struck by the disease.
By giving each of them a set of dictionary and a
schoolbag, Wen encouraged them to study hard and lead a meaningful life.
Fuyang's Yingzhou District has a high HIV/AIDS
prevalence. The documentary "The Blood of Yingzhou District" by Ruby Yang and
Thomas Lennon, which won the 2006 Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject, told
stories of children orphaned by AIDS in a poor village of Yingzhou.
Later, Wen went to the Dahu Village of the Funan
County where HIV carriers were in a large number. Villagers with HIV burst into
tears when the premier shake hands and talk freely with their fellows.
Wen became silent when he found a seven-year-old girl
Xiao Xue was a HIV carrier. He let the girl sit beside her and encouraged her to
have faith in life.
He asked about the implementation of national AIDS
prevention and control policies in the village and praised the local efforts
that the "four frees and one care" policy were implemented well since 2004.
The policy included providing free anti-viral drugs
and treatment to poor patients, free counseling and antibody pre-screening
services, free counseling and maternal tests for pregnant women and free tuition
fees for children orphaned by AIDS. The local government also offered living
subsidies to AIDS patients and orphans.
"If I had not taken the medication, I would not stand
here today and might have died many years ago," a middle-aged woman told the
premier.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C) talks
with villagers at Dahu village of Funan county, east China's Anhui
Province, Nov. 29, 2008. Wen visited people living with HIV/AIDS and
workers dealing with the disease in Fuyang over the weekend, prior to the
World AIDS Day which falls on December 1.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
"Where there is life there is hope. We are all
concerned about you. Your priority is to receive the treatment and take the
medication," Wen said. Turning to the officials, he said various levels of Party
committees and departments should offer more aid to AIDS patients.
The premier nodded his head after learning that local
food sales, farmers working in cities as casual labors and children's schooling
were not affected by discrimination against the disease.
"AIDS patients and orphans were often considered as
an underprivileged group. We should let them get their basic life allowances and
form a social trend of caring AIDS patients through education," Wen said.
Walking into a community medical service center for
AIDS patients in Funan County, the premier shook hands with patients and asked
each about their physical conditions.
"Optimism and perseverance is vital for a patient,"
he said. Wen particularly praised Cheng Xianyue, a local AIDS patient who
donated 2,000 yuan (256 U.S. dollars) after a massive earthquake struck
southwestern Sichuan Prvovince in May.
The premier had visited AIDS patients and medical
staff ahead of the World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 or on festival occasions since he
started his tenure in 2003.
BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- A total of
44,839 people living with HIV/AIDS were found in China and 6,897 others died of
the disease in the first nine months this year, the Ministry of Health said on
Sunday.
The ministry said 264,302 people in the country were
reported to have contracted HIV, including 77,753 AIDS patients, by the end of
September, while 34,864 people died of AIDS. Full story
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao shares a
light moment with children orphaned due to the death of their parents from
AIDS in Shangcai County, Central China's Henan Province Nov. 30, a day
before the 20th World AIDS Day which fell on Saturday.(Xinhua File
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
ZHENGZHOU, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao paid his second visit to China's worst AIDS-hit villages in Henan
Province, a day before the 20th World AIDS Day.
It was Wen's fifth face-to-face talks with AIDS patients
or their family members since 2003.
BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to several AIDS-hit villages in Shangcai County in
the central Henan Province in November has left villagers with great hope of
leading a better life.
During his Nov. 30 visit, Wen met farmers who had
contracted HIV through illegal blood sales in the 1990s and orphans whose
parents had died from AIDS.
Premier Wen Jiabao chats with children
at the Red Ribbon Home, an orphanage in Shangcai County, Henan Province
November 30, 2007. (Xinhua File Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- "Life is a long journey and we will always stay
with you," this is what a group of mute students said to HIV infected people
using sign language.
These disabled students at Huangshan Special School in
south China's Anhui Province has been an example to other secondary school
students in the country who have been taught how to prevent HIV/AIDS in class
courses promoted by the Ministry of Education.
BEIJING,
Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than half of Beijing's prostitutes still reject the use
of condoms despite the growing incidence of sexually-transmitted HIV and AIDS,
says a report issued on Tuesday.
Sexual transmission, for the first time, has replaced
intravenous drug using (IDU) as the most common transmission route in the
Chinese capital, accounting for 54.6 percent of HIV infections, said Fang
Laiying, the municipal Public Health Bureau director.
Members of public, celebrities and
condom manufacturers embarked on a "Great AIDS Walk" at the Great Wall on
a chilly Sunday morning to generate funds for the country's fight against
HIV/AIDS and raise public awareness of the disease.(Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Members of
public, celebrities and condom manufacturers embarked on a "Great AIDS Walk" at
the Great Wall on a chilly Sunday morning to generate funds for the country's
fight against HIV/AIDS and raise public awareness of the disease.
The four-kilometer walk at Juyongguan Great Wall, jointly
organized by UNAIDS and China Red Cross Foundation and with the support of the
Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC), attracted more than
2,000 people.
BEIJING, July 28
(Xinhua) -- A program to promote AIDS education among migrant workers in China,
with support from the International Labor Organization, was inaugurated here on
Monday.
The program, called the China Workplace Education Program
is a joint program of the ILO, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU),
the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the China Enterprise
Confederation and part of the UN program on HIV/AIDS in China.
BEIJING, May
19 (Xinhua) -- Three-star and higher-level hotels in Beijing have been ordered
to stock condoms in every guest room by the end of May amid an increase of
HIV/AIDS infections in the city.
As of April 30, Beijing has registered 5,219 HIV/AIDS
cases, including 569 AIDS patients, and sexual intercourse is an important
factor that accelerated the spread of the fatal condition in the national
capital, officials with Beijing Municipal Health Bureau (BMHB) said at the
launching ceremony of the condom-promotion campaign here on Monday.
BEIJING, April 8
(Xinhua) -- China's arduous war against the HIV/AIDS plague gained a powerful
new advocate when the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC)
integrated an HIV prevention message into its routine duties.
SAIC is the government organization responsible for the
supervision of markets and the enforcement of administrative laws for industry
and commerce in the country.
BEIJING, March 28
(Xinhua) -- The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) launched a three-year
nationwide AIDS prevention and care program here on Friday, aiming to reduce
vulnerability to HIV and its impact in the country.
The initiative comes in response to an escalating
nationwide HIV epidemic, said Yang Xusheng, director of the HIV Prevention
Office with the RCSC.
BEIJING, March
14 -- A nationwide initiative to enlist college students in an anti-HIV/AIDS
campaign was launched in Beijing on Thursday.
The year-long initiative by the China Woman/Child Care
Committee under the All China Women's Federation will reach 1 million students
at 50 colleges and universities across the country to raise awareness and teach
them about prevention
