China commits itself to fighting Aids

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China commits itself to fighting Aids

 

 

 

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1 & click_id=126 & art_id=vn20041202022433869C522016 December 02 2004 at 11:54AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beijing - One of the world's most populous nations promised on Wednesday to eradicate ignorance about HIV and Aids, a disease that many here dismissed initially as a Western evil confined to drug users, homosexuals and prostitutes.In the world's poorest continent, Africa, thousands staged rallies to mark World Aids Day, and Botswana's President Festus Mogae issued a blunt message: "Abstain from unsafe sex or die." Botswana, which had one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, could not afford on its own to keep a rising number of patients alive, he said.China, criticised for its slow initial response to HIV and Aids, put on a display of commitment to fighting a disease that the United Nations fears could infect 10 million Chinese by 2010The world can no longer afford to ignore the enormity of the HIV epidemic," Antonio Costa, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said in Beijing.

 

 

 

The world can no 'longer afford to ignore the enormity of the HIV epidemic'China's battle against HIV has been hampered by politics, but, on Tuesday, President Hu Jintao shook hands with an Aids patient and Premier Wen Jiabao called for "unremitting efforts" against the disease.In India, where more than five million people have already been infected with HIV, the government said it would make greater efforts to promote awareness, especially in rural areas and among the young.SY Quraishi, the head of India's National Aids Control Organisation, said four trains would criss-cross the country spreading awareness.Activists said attitudes towards women and gays were hampering efforts to fight the disease.In Cambodia, straying husbands are accused of spreading Aids among women and girls, now the most vulnerable group, and the theme of this year's Aids Day.In the tiny Pacific state of Papua New Guinea, where rape and multiple wives are common, the number of cases is expected to soar to between one million and 1,5 million by 2020 from 67 000, potentially wiping out a generation and destroying the economy.But in Thailand, where a mass public awareness campaign in the 1990s has been credited with sharply reducing the number of new HIV infections, youngsters paraded through shopping centres dressed as condoms and distributed condoms to other teenagers. - Reuters