The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) initiated a
program Tuesday featuring AIDS-related knowledge publicity to train
passengers aiming to raise migrant people's awareness of
HIV/AIDS.
Peng Peiyun, president of the RCSC said in Beijing on Tuesday at
the program's inauguration ceremony that the RCSC staff are going
to offer consultation services and hand out AIDS-prevention
brochures on trains and at railway stations of the nation's major
routes, telling passengers the ABCs of HIV/AIDS prevention.
Tuesday morning at the program's inauguration ceremony at the
Beijing Railway Station, experts from the Beijing You'an Hospital,
a renowned medical institution dedicated to infectious diseases,
and staff from China's Railway Epidemic Prevention Center gave
AIDS-related information to passers-by.
At the ceremony student volunteers wearing smart red ribbons
hand-knitted by HIV-positives in southwest China's Yunnan Province
disseminated brochures depicting how to prevent HIV in vivid
cartoons.
Chinese well-known comedian Hou Yaowen was appointed "Railway
AIDS-Prevention Ambassador".
Yang Zuyao, a student volunteer majoring in preventive medicine
at the Beijing University, felt more than happier.
"What I have learned in school can greatly contribute to my
volunteer work in AIDS prevention," she said.
Yang was among dozens of the Beijing University students
participating in the inauguration event.
The latest statistics from China's Ministry of Railways (MOR)
shows China's railway network saw more than 1.1 billion passengers
in 2004.
China's Vice Health Minister Wang Longde said Tuesday that
China's 120-million migrants, who are facing threats of HIV/AIDS
due to the lack of education and health knowledge, should be
regarded as a high-risk group of HIV/AIDS infection and should get
more attention and control efforts from the government.
Sources said in Beijing on Tuesday that the RCSC will join the
MOR staff to ride the international train from Beijing to Inner
Mongolia's Erenhot, north China's port city bordering Mongolia, to
spread AIDS-related knowledge on the train and participate in
Erenhot's local AIDS prevention promotion event there with the
Mongolia Red Cross.
By the end of September, China had an cumulative 135,630 cases
of HIV involving 31,143 AIDS patients and 7,773 fatalities.
(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)