China

CCTV Vice Chief Editor Huang Chuanfang presented James Chau (right) with the award CCTV International Journalist of the Year at a ceremony in Beijing on 19 January 2011. Credit: CCTV News

China Central Television has named CCTV News Anchor and National UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador James Chau its International Journalist of the Year. The prize, the first in the network’s history, was given for his coverage of the 2010 Manila Hostage Crisis, and in recognition of his reporting to highlight the rights of HIV-positive people. The award was presented today by CCTV Vice Chief Editor Huang Chuanfang at a ceremony in Beijing.

Mr Chau was appointed National UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for China in 2009. His news programmes are watched in over 100 countries, which he has used as a platform to inform millions of viewers about HIV and the AIDS response. He has spoken on camera in a rare exclusive with the singer and Chinese AIDS Ambassador Peng Liyuan and, in April 2010, covered the Chinese Government’s historic decision to remove its two decade HIV-related travel ban.

“I congratulate Mr Chau on receiving this award which acknowledges his contribution to international news reporting in China including highlighting the global issue of HIV,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “Mr James Chau is also a role model for today's youth through his tireless personal advocacy and participation in a number of international fora.”

In 2010 James Chau reported live from the International AIDS Conference in Vienna and at the Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York, where he interviewed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, U.S. AIDS Envoy Eric Goosby and former President of Botswana Festus Mogae.

He also spoke on television with AIDS activist Annie Lennox, as well as French scientist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi who won the Nobel Prize for co-discovering HIV. Meanwhile, Mr Chau’s week-long special on CCTV News for World AIDS Day 2010 was the first extensive coverage of its kind in the Chinese state media. It featured three Health Ministers: China's Chen Zhu, South Africa's Aaron Motsoaledi and Rwanda's Richard Sezibera.

CCTV News is the international division of China Central Television and broadcasts globally 24 hours a day, together with the station’s other channels it reaches out to the country’s 1.3 billion population.

A global consensus is emerging that accelerated progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and more efficient use of resources can be achieved by taking the AIDS response out of isolation and integrating it with efforts to achieve other health and development goals.

On 22 September, the last day of the UN MDG Summit in New York, UNAIDS will co-host the event ‘AIDS plus MDGs: Delivering results towards our shared commitments’ together with the Governments of China, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa. 

Premier Wen Jiabao of China and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia will be joined by Nigeria’s and South Africa’s Ministers of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu and Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, respectively, to generate political commitment to leverage the AIDS response to achieve the MDGs. Representing the United Nations will be UN Deputy Secretary-General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, and UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé, who will chair the event.

“World leaders and UNAIDS are joining together to give the message that we must invest strategically to address multiple MDGs,” said Mr Sidibé. “Releasing the power, capacity and innovation of the AIDS movement may provide one of the best opportunities to ‘do the MDGs’ differently.”

The relationship between AIDS and the MDGs is reciprocal: investments in the AIDS repose advance all the MDGs and efforts to meet the eight Goals address the social drivers of the HIV epidemic. To find out more about AIDS and the MDG, read the UNAIDS report AIDS plus MDGs: synergies that serve people, a report prepared by the Government of Ethiopia and a UNAIDS case study on Rwanda.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Michel Sidibé (L), executive director of UNAIDS in Beijing, 11 August 2010. Credit: Xinhua/Pang Xinglei

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with top Chinese government leaders yesterday in Beijing to discuss China’s AIDS response. In meetings with Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Minister of Health, Yin Li, Mr Sidibé commended China for its strong political commitment to the AIDS response, and outlined workable recommendations to strengthen China’s AIDS response.

In discussions with Vice President Xi Jinping, Mr Sidibé noted that China’s achievements in recent decades with regard to poverty reduction, expanding access to education, and reducing mortality and extending life expectancy have been truly astonishing. “China’s progress has strongly demonstrated the commitment of the Chinese government to delivering on human development and its MDG commitments,” said Mr Sidibé. “However, there is still work to be done, and significant scaling-up of quality HIV treatment and prevention efforts will be necessary if MDG 6 (halting and reversing the HIV epidemic) is to be achieved in China.”

Mr Sidibé urged the Chinese government to set targets to halve HIV infections and deaths from AIDS by 2015, in order to meet and exceed MDG 6, and halt and reverse China’s HIV epidemic.

During their meeting at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday, Vice President Xi said, “the Chinese government attached great importance to the prevention of HIV, which has become the country's leading infectious disease killer. With increased funding for anti-AIDS programs, China has implemented prevention, treatment and care policies to secure the rights and interests of people living with HIV.”

During the meeting Mr Xi also vowed to support appeals from the United Nations and the international community to bolster south-south cooperation with Africa and push for the realization of Millennium Development Goals worldwide.

While in Beijing, Mr Sidibé also took the opportunity to present awards to Vice Minister Yin Li and Mr Li Jingwu of the Law Office of China’s State Council, in recognition of their considerable commitment and contribution to China’s AIDS response.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Mr Michel Sidibé, delivers a keynote speech on "HIV in Cities of the 21st Century” at the International Forum on Cities and Health, 9 August 2010, Shanghai, China Credit: UNAIDS 

Approximately half of the world’s population lives in cities. By 2050, seven out of ten global citizens will be living in a “mega-city” of more than 10 million people. In an official visit this week to Shanghai—one of the world’s largest metropolises—UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé called attention to the central role that cities can play in the AIDS response.

“While it is clear that cities are important to the HIV response, they have not been sufficiently mobilized and supported to act,” said Mr Sidibé, addressing an audience of more than 100 health sector leaders and practitioners from across China. “I believe that it is time for this to change and for cities to take the lead in making HIV history.”

The rapid growth of cities has created conditions where HIV can thrive. Globally, it is estimated that as many as 50% of HIV-positive people live in cities. In some urban areas, the HIV epidemic is so pervasive that it is compares to national epidemics of entire countries.

Noting that city governments have administrative power and well-established systems for delivering social services, Mr Sidibé urged city authorities to mobilize all available resources to ensure universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. To that end, only a few cities, he said, have shown bold leadership and acted in a timely manner.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Mr Michel Sidibé, delivers a keynote speech on "HIV in Cities of the 21st Century” at the International Forum on Cities and Health, 9 August 2010, Shanghai, China Credit: UNAIDS 

Efforts by the city of Bangkok to reduce HIV prevalence among sex workers provide one such success story. In collaboration with health providers, the police, entertainment industry owners, non-governmental organizations and sex workers, authorities in Bangkok launched a city-wide campaign in the early 1990s promoting 100% condom use. Over the course of 20 years, HIV prevalence among the city’s brothel-based sex workers has fallen significantly.

While in Shanghai, Mr Sidibé commended Chinese leaders on the country’s progress in scaling up methadone maintenance treatment and needle exchange programmes in large cities, which have been critical in reversing the HIV epidemic among injecting drug users. “I encourage China to continue to expand these programmes—particularly at the community level—and to reconsider whether drug detention centres are really effective as part of a national strategy to prevent HIV transmission,” he said.

Other cities facing burgeoning HIV epidemics among injecting drug users, such as Sydney, Toronto and Geneva, have implemented cost-effective harm reduction programmes, including needle exchange and opiate substitution therapy, stemming the tide of new HIV infections.

Mr Sidibé challenged China’s cities to be at the forefront of localized AIDS responses that address, in particular, the needs of populations at higher risk of HIV infection, such as men who have sex with men, migrant workers, sex workers and injecting drug users. He called on Shanghai to build on the momentum of Expo 2010, uniting and mobilizing mega-cities of the world to become HIV-free by 2015.

Vice Minister Yin Li addressed the Forum on 5 July 2010

For the first time in China, government and civil society have formed a partnership to offer innovative ideas from a rights-based perspective to strengthen the national response to HIV. The China Red Ribbon Beijing Forum was launched on 5 July 2010 at a high-level meeting attended by Vice Minister of Health Yin Li and more than 100 members of civil society, including grassroots organizations.

“The Chinese government places great importance on the AIDS response,” said Vice Minister Yin Li.  “National leaders are setting a strong example in advocating and driving all sectors of society to protect the human rights of people living with HIV and AIDS, reducing stigma and discrimination and leading the way forward.”

Forum speakers respond to questions from the floor.

“What’s happened here today is truly significant, and we shouldn’t underestimate its importance,” observed Steve Kraus, Director, UNAIDS Regional Support Team Asia-Pacific. “Partnership between government and civil society, fostering candid and open debate, is critical to success for all national AIDS programmes.” 

Dr Wang Longde, president of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and chair of the Forum’s Interim Steering Committee emphasized that “Only by adopting a people-centred approach, by ensuring the protection of people’s rights, can strategies and measures in our AIDS response be fully implemented, the scope of our response be expanded, and the lives of those living with or affected by HIV be improved.”

The Forum’s 14-member Interim Steering Committee includes representatives from government and civil society. It will be replaced after a year by a Steering Committee whose membership will be chosen through wide consultation with civil society and other stakeholders.

Rights-based approach

Mr Steve Kraus, Director UNAIDS RST Asia Pacific.

Thomas Cai is founder of AIDS Care China whose community-based HIV care work has been honoured both internationally and at home. An appointee to the interim committee, he is convinced that the initiative is an opportunity for a new way of doing things.

“This Forum should and will be more than just rhetoric,” Cai explained. “Yes, there is skepticism about whether it is truly going to make a difference, or if it’s more show than substance. But by using HIV as an ‘experiment’, if you will, the aim is to strengthen the rights-based approach that serves as our context.”

Looking forward

A broad range of issues were discussed including how the law can be crafted to protect the rights of those vulnerable to, or living with, HIV; how to address stigma and discrimination; and how HIV prevention efforts can be strengthened across China through rights-based approaches.

“Converting the discussions into concrete results is the next step,” said Mark Stirling, UNAIDS Country Coordinator for China.

Forum delegates already highlighted a number of areas that need to be prioritized. These include:

• Incorporating a rights-based approach into China’s next HIV/AIDS Five-Year Action Plan (2011-2016);
• Ensuring compliance with existing anti-discrimination clauses, and conducting a legal audit to assess where conflicting laws need to be revised or removed;
• Creating a standardised framework to address compensation for HIV infection through contaminated blood products or the selling of blood;
• Addressing the need for registration and legal recognition of non-governmental and community-based organizations;
• Fostering dialogue between the Ministries of Health, Public Security and Justice to examine how harm reduction work could be strengthened to reduce the risks of infection to injecting drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men;

From right: Mr Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of Health on behalf of the Government of China, UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé and civil society representative jointly launched the nationwide anti-stigma campaign. Beijing, 27 November 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS/Zhou Dao

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and the Chinese Vice-Minister of Health, Huang Jiefu, launched a campaign in Beijing earlier today to address HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Chinese basketball star Yao Ming and a group of fans that include people living with HIV are the face of the campaign which features two videos and a poster.

Congratulating Mr Ming on his commitment to spread awareness about HIV, Mr Sidibé said, “It is an inspiration to have celebrity as famous as Yao Ming take a leadership role in addressing this issue. I hope others will follow his excellent example.”

In the campaign, Yao Ming is encouraging people in China and all over the world to help change attitudes and stop stigma and discrimination, “Like all of us, my friends who are living with HIV should have the opportunity to live full and dignified lives.”

Members from organizations of people living with HIV and other partners were also part of the launch ceremony.

The campaign responds to findings from a recently launched China Stigma Index report that measures stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV in China. The report, the first of its kind in China, surveyed more than 2000 respondents living with HIV. The data are collected by people living with HIV themselves. The survey report is the result of efforts of networks of people living with HIV and other key stakeholders including the Institute of Social Development Research of the Chinese Central Party School, the Marie Stopes International project ‘Positive Talks’ and UNAIDS. The work is part of a global project to document AIDS-related discrimination.

“People living with HIV should not be forced to live in the shadows,” said Yu Xuan who is HIV positive and a consultant for ‘Positive Talks’. “This data collection project has clearly shown that people living with HIV need to be part of the response to AIDS. By working together we can make a big difference.”

The study shows that 42% of respondents reported having faced some type of HIV-related discrimination. It also showed that 12% of respondents said they had been refused medical care at least once since they tested positive.

Dr Jiefu commented, “China has always made anti-discrimination education an important part of its response to AIDS. The Chinese government is committed to continuing to work together with the international community, including UNAIDS, and to doing more to eliminate discrimination.”

Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director presents the China Stigma Index Report at launch in Beijing, 27 November 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS/Zhou Dao

Many of the surveyed respondents said they had been refused antiretroviral treatment, refused family planning services and reproductive health services since being diagnosed HIV positive. 17% said they had been recommended by a health professional not to have children and some had been pressurised into undergoing sterilization by a healthcare professional. Some of the female respondents said they had been pressurised into terminating a pregnancy by medical staff or family planning department staff.
The China Stigma Index survey also found that one quarter of medical staff and more than one third of government officials and teachers develop more negative and discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV after learning of their HIV positive status.

A significant proportion of people living with HIV reported having lost their job, having been forced to leave school or move out of their home or even having found that their family members experienced discrimination in various forms, as a result of their HIV status.

China, together with India, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea, is home to 82% of people living with HIV in the Asia-Pacific region.

HIV remains a formidable challenge in China with several factors fuelling the epidemic, including shame, fear, stigma and discrimination; low awareness of HIV within the general population; rural poverty; mobility; availability and affordability of prostitution; a rapidly expanding community of men who have sex with men; and injecting drug use.

Credit: Xinhua/Li Tao

Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, met with Vice Premiere of the People’s Republic of China Li Keqiang in Beijing during his week long visit to the country.

"China is still confronted with a severe task of HIV prevention and treatment, although the spread of the epidemic has slowed down thanks to the joint efforts of government, professionals and the public," Li said at the meeting.

Mr Sidibé said the vice premier had "showed the country's commitment to this cause," but the UNAIDS head also noted that China faces a major challenge in scaling up HIV prevention. “Right now there is great scope to save lives by recognizing and meeting the unique needs of those at high risk,” said Mr Sidibé.

In China, between 560,000 to 920,000 people are living with HIV and 97,000 to 112,000 AIDS patients at the end of 2009, according to estimates by the Ministry of Health and UNAIDS.

During the meeting, Vice Premier Mr Li also highlighted the country's efforts to step up AIDS awareness education among the public and mobilize social forces in disease prevention and control in a bid to minimize the AIDS impact

He pledged China's commitment to stronger international cooperation, saying the country will expand information and technology exchanges, share experience in prevention and treatment, shoulder international obligations and contribute to the health and security of human.

China now has 276 AIDS control programs jointly operated with more than 40 foreign governments or international organizations, involving 3.58 billion yuan in fund.

Efforts towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support are bringing AIDS out of isolation

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé launches double report in Shanghai, 24 November 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS

Geneva / Shanghai, 24 November 2009 – According to new data in the 2009 AIDS epidemic update, new HIV infections have been reduced by 17% over the past eight years. Since 2001, when the United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was signed, the number of new infections in sub-Saharan Africa is approximately 15% lower, which is about 400,000 fewer infections in 2008. In East Asia new HIV infections declined by nearly 25% and in South and South East Asia by 10% in the same time period. In Eastern Europe, after a dramatic increase in new infections among injecting drug users, the epidemic has leveled off considerably. However, in some countries there are signs that new HIV infections are rising again.

Credit: UNAIDS

The report, released today by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), highlights that beyond the peak and natural course of the epidemic—HIV prevention programmes are making a difference.

“The good news is that we have evidence that the declines we are seeing are due, at least in part, to HIV prevention,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “However, the findings also show that prevention programming is often off the mark and that if we do a better job of getting resources and programmes to where they will make most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved.”

In this first double issue, the UNAIDS Outlook report further explores how “modes of transmission” studies are changing the approach of HIV prevention efforts. The new magazine-style report looks at new ideas and ways to use the data collected in the companion epidemiological report.

An estimated:

1. 33.4 million [31.1 million–35.8 million] people are living with HIV worldwide
2. 2.7 million [2.4 million–3.0 million] people were newly infected in 2008
3. 2 million [1.7– 2.4 million] people died of AIDS related illness in 2008

Universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support

photo caption. Credit:

Data from the AIDS Epidemic Update also show that at 33.4 million, [31.1 million–35.8 million] there are more people living with HIV than ever before as people are living longer due to the beneficial effects of antiretroviral therapy and population growth. However the number of AIDS-related deaths has declined by over 10% over the past five years as more people gained to access to the life saving treatment. UNAIDS and WHO estimate that since the availability of effective treatment in 1996, some 2.9 million lives have been saved.

"International and national investment in HIV treatment scale-up have yielded concrete and measurable results,” said Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO. “We cannot let this momentum wane. Now is the time to redouble our efforts, and save many more lives."

Antiretroviral therapy has also made a significant impact in preventing new infections in children as more HIV- positive mothers gain access to treatment preventing them from transmitting the virus to their children. Around 200 000 new infections among children have been prevented since 2001.

In Botswana, where treatment coverage is 80%, AIDS-related deaths have fallen by over 50% over the past five years and the number of children newly orphaned is also coming down as parents are living longer.

AIDS out of isolation

One of the significant findings of the report is that the impact of the AIDS response is high where HIV prevention and treatment programmes have been integrated with other health and social welfare services. Early evidence shows that HIV may be a significant factor in maternal mortality. Research models using South African data estimate that about 50,000 maternal deaths were associated with HIV in 2008.

“AIDS isolation must end,” said Mr Sidibé. “Already research models are showing that HIV may have a significant impact on maternal mortality. Half of all maternal deaths in Botswana and South Africa are due to HIV. This tells us that we must work for a unified health approach bringing maternal and child health and HIV programmes as well as tuberculosis programmes together to work to achieve their common goal.”

The AIDS epidemic is evolving and HIV prevention programmes are not rapidly adjusting to the changes

The double report also shows that the face of the epidemic is changing and that prevention efforts are not keeping pace with this shift. For example the epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia once characterized by injecting drug use is now spreading to the sexual partners of people who inject drugs. Similarly in parts of Asia an epidemic once characterized by transmission through sex work and injecting drug use is now increasingly affecting heterosexual couples.

Data show that few HIV prevention programmes exist for people over 25, married couples or people in stable relationships, widowers and divorcees. These are the same groups in which HIV prevalence has been found to be high in many sub-Saharan countries. For example in Swaziland people over the age of 25 accounted for more than two thirds of adult infections yet very few HIV prevention programmes are designed for older people.

Funding for HIV prevention has become the smallest percentage of the HIV budgets of many countries. For example in Swaziland, just 17% of the country’s total budget for AIDS was spent on prevention despite a national HIV prevalence rate of 26%. In Ghana, the prevention budget was cut in 2007 by 43% from 2005 levels.

Building capacity: new social networking site for global AIDS community

Building on the need to maximize results and to better connect the 33.4 million people living with HIV and the millions of people who are part of the AIDS response, UNAIDS has launched AIDSspace.org. This social networking site is open to the community and is free.

AIDSspace.org aims to expand informal and established networks to include more people interested in HIV to maximize resources for a stronger AIDS response. The premise behind AIDSspace is simple: if hundreds of millions of people can connect on some of the most popular social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube) to connect, exchange ideas, post and share HIV-related content, they can do the same for HIV related content—including key policies, case studies, multimedia materials, conference posters, reports and other essential resources. Users can also find and post jobs and reviews on service providers on AIDSspace.org 

Press conference launch of two publications, Shanghai, 24 November 2009.
Speakers from left) Ms Annemarie Hou, Director Communicaitons UNAIDS; Mr Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS; Dr Chen Zhu, Chinese Minister of Health; Dr Hiroki Nakatani, Assistant Director General, AIDS, TB, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO; Ms Zhao Chunki, Social worker.

UNAIDS is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations, bringing together the efforts and resources of the UNAIDS Secretariat and ten UN system organizations in the AIDS response. The Secretariat headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland—with staff on the ground in more than 80 countries. The Cosponsors include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank. Contributing to achieving global commitments to universal access to comprehensive interventions for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support is the number one priority for UNAIDS. Visit the UNAIDS website at www.unaids.org

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. For more information, please visit www.who.int

AIDSspace.org is an online community for connecting people, sharing knowledge, and accessing services for the 33.4 million people living with HIV and the millions who are part of the response. Sign up today at www.aidsspace.org

UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé in Shanghai, China on 23 November 2009. Credit: UNAIDS

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, during his visit to China, commended the People’s Republic of China on rises in domestic spending for HIV prevention and care in spite of a global financial crisis where other countries are weighing the risks of making cuts.

Speaking during the opening of the Fifth Conference for the International Cooperation Programme on AIDS in Shanghai, Mr Sidibé congratulated the country, saying, “China’s progress can invigorate an AIDS response that teaches and inspires the world.”

Also on the panel with Mr Sidibé were China’s Health Minister, Dr Chen Zhu; Mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng; Vice Director of the Department of International Cooperation, Dr Ren Minghui; Dr Wu Zunyou from the National Centre for HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention (China) and UNFPA's Dr Bernard Coquelin.

Earlier during his visit Mr Sidibé held a bilateral meeting with Health Minister Dr Chen Zhu and acknowledged the country’s progress on the AIDS response.

While HIV prevalence in China is estimated to be less than 0.1 per cent of the total population, the epidemic continues to grow – the majority of new infections are related to injecting drug use and sexual transmission.

China’s senior leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, have over the years shown commitment towards addressing the AIDS epidemic. The national budget for HIV prevention and care rose from RMB 390 million (US$48.75 million) in 2003 to RMB 983 million (US$144.13 million) in 2008. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has recently approved a disbursement of US$ 500 million to China to scale up its programmes for HIV prevention, treatment and care.

Mr Sidibé added, “The world eagerly anticipates China’s enhanced role in global governance—and its leadership in the global response to AIDS.”  It has accomplished some of the lowest child and maternal death rates and lowest prevalence of HIV, TB and malaria.

Its “Four Frees and One Care” policy provides free voluntary counselling and testing, free antiretroviral treatment, free services to prevent mother-to-child transmission, free schooling for children orphaned by AIDS, and care for people with HIV in 127 sites nationwide.

Also, China now has more drug replacement clinics and needle social marketing programmes than any other country in Asia.

Speaking about China’s national AIDS programme, Mr Sidibé noted, “This scale of transformation gives me and many others hope that China can make breathtaking strides in other areas of universal access, if the will is there. And I believe it is.”

Mr Sidibé called for human rights, equity and the involvement of the civil society and affected communities in all aspects of the AIDS response.
Earlier in the day Mr Sidibé launched two publications UNAIDS Outlook 2010 and 2009 AIDS Epidemic Update at a press conference. Dr Chen Zhu, Chinese Minister of Health; Dr Hiroki Nakatani, Assistant Director General, AIDS, TB, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO; and Ms Zhao Chunki, Social worker also participated in the press conference which was webcast live from Shanghai.
The Executive Director plans to meet with China’s Vice Premier, Mr Li Keqiang, as well as launch the highlights of the China Stigma Index that documents the stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV in China.

Later in the week, Mr Sidibé’s will also participate in the launch of two campaign materials on awareness about AIDS: a poster and a public service announcement featuring Chinese basketball star Yao Ming and a group of people living with HIV.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé with Dr. Zhao Hongxin, winner of the Positive Commitment, Treatment and Care Award in Shanghai, China on 23 November 2009. Credit: UNAIDS

UNAIDS Executive Secretary Michel Sidibé arrived in Shanghai this week on the first leg of a two-city visit to China. During the visit, Michel Sidibé will visit Shanghai and Beijing, launch the 2009 AIDS Epidemic Update and meet with many key partners from Chinese government and civil society. Michel Sidibé began his visit by attending a prize giving ceremony organised by the China office of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, an organization that works to improve treatment conditions for people living with HIV at the local, regional and international levels.

During the ceremony, prizes were awarded to civil society figures, medical workers, government officials and organizations that have made exceptional contributions to the response to AIDS in China, in the fields of community mobilization, treatment and care, and policy implementation.

Dr Cai Weiping, a doctor renowned for his work with people living with HIV, was awarded a prize for his contributions to treatment and care. Accepting the prize, Dr Cai said “I have received many awards in 26 years of being a practising physician, but this is the first prize I’ve ever received from the community, or from my patients. The best recognition that a doctor can receive is not from the government or from a hospital, but from his patients.”

Michel Sidibé highlighted the importance of the dedication shown by prize recipients: “I think what we are talking about today is restoring dignity,” Michel noted, “When I was listening to the people who have been working hard, giving voice to the voiceless, I feel like it is not just about receiving an award, it’s about saving lives, it’s about giving social justice, it’s about redistributing opportunity.”

After presenting awards at the ceremony, Michel Sidibé met for lunch with workers and volunteers from local Shanghai civil society organizations. Joining the lunch were representatives from organizations working with a range of key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgender people.

Over lunch, Michel Sidibé heard about the issues and difficulties faced by these populations and the organizations which work to support them. Participants felt that civil society could make a far greater contribution to the response to AIDS, both in Shanghai and in China as a whole. Many felt that the Chinese government needed to work more closely with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society partners to provide services and gain access to key populations such as sex workers and drug users. These key populations are often highly reluctant to seek services or accept help from government bodies, particularly due to the fact that they are often criminalised, and therefore remain cut off from vital prevention, treatment and care services.

Michel Sidibé discussed these issues and expressed his agreement, stressing the critical importance of NGO involvement in national AIDS responses, including meaningful participation in policy formulation and implementation of prevention, treatment and care services. Michel commended the participants for the work they were carrying out. He told them that “achieving social change and challenging strongly-held attitudes is not an easy task, and requires time, patience and commitment,” but encouraged them to continue to strive to achieve these important goals.