'Positive Talks' Changing Attitudes on HIV

'Positive Talks' Changing Attitudes on HIV

November 28, 2007

UN, Marie Stopes and the Private Sector Support People
Living with HIV to Speak Out About HIV and Stigma


    BEIJING, Nov. 28 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The United
Nations has hosted a ceremony to launch a joint project
that aims to empower and support the significant
involvement of women and men living with HIV (PLHIV) as
meaningful partners in China's multi-sector response to
AIDS.

    (Logo:
http://www.xprn.com/xprn/sa/20061107113358-34.jpg )

    A key activity of Maries Stopes International China
(MSIC), the "Positive Talks" project aims to
train and support a core group of 35 women and men living
with HIV and AIDS from around China to serve as effective
policy advocates and peer educators. They will give
"positive talks" in various HIV-related advocacy,
prevention, care and awareness activities initiated by
different organizations such as public and private sector
companies, health care centers, schools, NGOs and the
media. 

    "Positive Talks" is supported by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) through the UN Joint
Programme on AIDS in China (2007 ¨C 2010), and is
implemented by the China International Center for Economics
and Technology Exchange (CICETE).

    "The `Positive Talks' Project not only builds up
the confidence of the trainers in their own capacities and
their relevant role in China's HIV response," said
Kang Hui, Positive Talks Project Manager, "but also
inspires the participants to accept their status and gives
them the opportunities and support to increase the
understanding of the general population about HIV and those
living with the virus."

    Widespread stigma and shame affect prevention and
treatment efforts and are recognized to be major
contributors to the spread of the HIV epidemic. Because HIV
is often wrongly perceived as a disease exclusive to
marginalized groups (such as drug users, men who have sex
with men ¨C- MSM -- and sex workers) and judgmentally
viewed as being caused by "morally blameful"
behaviors, people are deterred from talking about HIV and
getting tested. 

    This attitude also makes people less likely to
recognize and acknowledge their risk of infection. As a
consequence, individuals who are positive are identified
too late and unknowingly become channels of HIV
transmission.

    "There is a stronger need than ever to reach the
general public and `humanize' the face of the HIV epidemic
-- presenting it as a reality that  "People living
with HIV have been shown to have a significant and lasting
impact on people's awareness of their vulnerability to the
disease, thereby changing social myths and misconceptions
about HIV and AIDS," said UNAIDS Country Director,
Bernhard Schwartlander.

    This groundbreaking project is funded by the UK
Department for International Development (DFID), the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation and Stora Enso, a
Finland-based global forest products company. 

    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men
to build better lives in China. As the UN's development
network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist
China in developing its own solutions to the country's
development challenges. Through partnerships and innoation,
UNDP works to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and
an equitable Xiao Kang society by reducing poverty,
strengthening the rule of law, promoting environmental
sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS.  
http://www.undp.org.cn




    For more information, please contact:

     Kang Hui, Positive Talks Project Manager, MSIC
     Tel:   [phone] x10
     Email: [e-mail]
 
     Edmund Settle, HIV/AIDS Programme Specialist, UNDP
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]