HIV work in China began in 1994 by focusing on youth peer education. This is seen as a vital part of curbing the spread of the virus as it predominantly affects young people aged 20 to 39. As part of its new nationwide plan, the Red Cross Society of China wants to extend its peer education programme to more schools and universities to equip young people with both the knowledge and the skills to protect themselves.
Lijiang Teachers' Training College, Yunnan province
©InfoLijiang Red Cross are working to establish a student base at the Teachers’ Training College where Zhang Jun Yan and Xu Ke Sheng are both studying.
The 20-year-olds became interested in raising awareness of HIV after watching a performance by inmates from the local detention centre.
Zhang, who uses the English name, Ave, said: “Before seeing the drama and meeting with the people, I thought drug using and HIV was scary. It helped to talk with them about the issues.”
As a result, when Ave later visited an orphanage and met a young orphan with HIV, she wanted to befriend the girl.
“It took a while to get to know her,” Ave said. “She was only 13 but had suffered a lot of discrimination because of her status. She had only been at the orphanage a month and was very shy. I now go to see her regularly and she confides in me more. HIV is still a very taboo subject in China. I think people do not know enough about it and there should be more care and support for people who suffer from it.”
©InfoXu Ke Sheng, who uses the English name, Colin, agreed that more HIV awareness work needs to be done.
“I have helped distribute material about HIV around campus,” he said. “People didn’t reject me for doing it. I think they welcomed the information. There is a very high prevalence rate of HIV in Yunnan so more needs to be done to prevent it.”
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