Discrimination was the biggest stumbling block for China's
efforts in AIDS prevention and control, said Dr. Peter Piot,
executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS,
Friday.
Inspecting the AIDS prevention and control work in Guangzhou,
capital of Guangdong Province in south China, Piot said many people
in China, including some medical staff, discriminated against HIV
carriers, due to the lack of related knowledge.
This put pressure on the patients, and some of them even did not
dare to go to hospital, which created great difficulties to AIDS
prevention and control in China, he said.
Yet Piot said he was satisfied with the care of AIDS patients in
Guangdong when he inspected the Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital,
where doctors and nurses were in good relations with HIV
carriers.
Piot called on government departments to increase cooperation in
AIDS prevention and popularize AIDS-related knowledge among the
general public.
He hoped the government could tighten control over migrants for
the purpose of AIDS prevention, especially the high-risk group.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2004)