Beijing - NBA basketball star Yao Ming on Friday launched a United Nations-backed drive to reduce discrimination against the rising number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China. "Like all of us, my friends who are living with HIV should have the opportunity to live full and dignified lives," Yao said in one of two promotional videos produced by China's Health Ministry and UNAIDS, the UN umbrella group for HIV/AIDS prevention.
UNAIDS said the campaign "responds to findings from recent surveys showing that people who are HIV positive experience high levels of stigma and discrimination in China."
Even 25 per cent of medical staff and about 35 per cent of government officials and teachers in China had "negative and discriminatory attitudes" towards people living with HIV/AIDS, it quoted a recent survey as finding.
"These results really underscore the importance of ensuring health care professionals receive appropriate training to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase their ability to provide appropriate services to people living with HIV," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said at the launch of the campaign in Beijing.
"It's great to have such a famous celebrity like Yao Ming take a leadership role in addressing this issue," Sidibe said, urging other celebrities to follow Yao's "excellent example."
UNAIDS said fear of being stigmatized and discrimination prevented many Chinese people from receiving vital information about HIV prevention, and from accessing testing and treatment.
"Building understanding and care from society as a whole for people living with HIV, together with eliminating discrimination, are key elements of the AIDS response," said China's Vice Minister of Health, Dr Huang Jiefu.
A survey of more than 2,000 HIV-infected people formed the basis of the China Stigma Index, which UNAIDS said was the world's first such survey of HIV/AIDS discrimination.
More 40 per cent of survey respondents reported discrimination, while 12 per cent said they had been refused medical care at least once since they tested positive for HIV.
The Yao Ming-led video campaign will be shown on 22 giant outdoor screens in 12 major cities across China, with the main events timed to coincide with World AIDS Day on December 1, UNAIDS said.
The health ministry estimated that some 740,000 people were living with HIV in China at the end of last year, most of them undiagnosed because of the fear, ignorance and stigma attached to the virus.
More than 70 per cent of new infections were through sexual transmission, the ministry said.
