President Hu Jintao
on Tuesday called on all citizens to show care and love for people
with HIV/AIDS and to eliminate any forms of discrimination against
them so that all AIDS victims can "feel the warmth of society."
The top Chinese leader made the remarks on the day before the
17th World AIDS Day at Home of Love, a nongovernmental organization
dedicated to AIDS prevention and treatment at the Beijing You'an
Hospital. The president shook hands and chatted with AIDS patients
and saluted the medical workers and volunteers who work at the
hospital.
Hu, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of
the Communist Party of China (CPC), urged governments and Party
committees at all levels to be fully aware of the importance and
urgency of AIDS prevention and treatment. He told them to put AIDS
prevention and treatment high on their work agendas and mobilize
all sectors of society to fight the disease.
"China has in recent years made encouraging progress in AIDS
prevention and treatment. But the country is still facing a grave
situation in this regard, and the CPC and the whole of society need
to make further efforts," Hu said.
Hu said governments at all levels should disseminate AIDS
prevention information among the people, advocate a civilized and
healthy lifestyle and constantly improve citizens' awareness and
practice of AIDS prevention.
"The government should provide medical treatment and assistance
for HIV carriers and AIDS patients, safeguard their legitimate
rights and interests and help them overcome difficulties in their
lives," he said.
The president encouraged medical workers to, in the spirit of
humanitarianism, assume the responsibility of treating AIDS
patients, assiduously study treatment techniques and develop new
ways to help AIDS patients to fight the disease.
Premier Wen
Jiabao also recently called for unremitting efforts in the
campaign in a message attached to a Ministry of Public Health
report on the country's progress in HIV/AIDS prevention.
In his message, Premier Wen, also a member of the Politburo
Standing Committee of the CPC, paid tribute to all HIV carriers and
AIDS patients in the country and to medical workers dealing with
the disease. He offered his sincere thanks to all the people who
have supported HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.
Wen called for still greater efforts in increase public
awareness of the issue and to curb the spread of the virus.
Earlier this year, the State Council set up an HIV/AIDS
Prevention Committee that has been developing programs and
campaigns to deal with the rapid spread of HIV infections.
World AIDS Day falls on December 1 each year. This year's theme
is "Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS."
Females now make up almost half of the nearly 40 million people
worldwide currently infected with the deadly virus and the number
is growing at an alarming rate. The number of HIV-positive women in
East Asia jumped 56% in the past year.
Around the world, AIDS has killed more than 20 million people
since 1981, including 2.9 million last year.
Executive Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang reported in November
that China currently has 840,000 HIV carriers and 80,000 AIDS
patients. He said the figures came from a joint epidemiological
survey conducted by China, the World Health Organization and
UNAIDS.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn December 1, 2004)
