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Universtiy students hold an AIDS
awareness activity at the Tianta Park in Tianjin, north China, Nov. 30,
2008. The World AIDS Day falls on Dec. 1. This year's theme is "Stop AIDS.
Keep the Promise."(Xinhua Photo)
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BEIJING, Dec.1 -- Nondiscrimination against HIV
carriers and AIDS patients is key to prevention and control of the disease, said
Fan Yishan, director of the Yunnan AIDS Care Center.
"Care should be rendered to HIV positive people so
that they can willingly open themselves to treatment, which is another kind of
protection for the society," he said.
National laws and regulations of the Yunnan province
on prevention and control of the disease all stipulate that there should be no
discrimination against these patients. Yet social understanding still lags
behind.
Even the construction of the center was full of
controversy at the beginning because people were not fully aware of the ways of
infection.
Live broadcasts and photos of President Hu Jintao
shaking hands with AIDS patients in a Beijing hospital on December 1, 2004 have
changed the minds of many and encouraged medical staff at the center greatly.
"At our center, dining together with patients helps
remove discrimination against them and their psychological burden," Fan said.
Inside the center, Dr Yang Xinping shows visitors
around as patients talk with ease, now and then saying hello to visitors.
"The relationship between the doctor and the patient
is unusual here," Yang said. "It's a kind of cooperation."
It is crucial to treatment but difficult to carry out
for the patients to follow orders in taking medicine and receive other kinds of
assistance.
"It's like many young people who know of bad habits
but can't get rid of them," he said.
The center has psychologists and lessons. The staff
are also taking psychological courses to relieve their own burden and to help
patients be at ease.
A happy-looking girl jumped out of a room, addressing
Dr Yang, who noted both the girl's parents had died and she is HIV positive as
well. "But the medical staff here like her a lot and often bring her toys," Yang
said.
Chinese premier visits AIDS patients,
workers
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.
