A new survey carried out by UNAIDS and China’s Renmin University has shown that there is a serious lack of understanding surrounding HIV and AIDS in China, and that levels of stigma and discrimination are dangerously high.  The findings highlight the critical importance of PTE’s programs to address stigma and discrimination in the fight against AIDS in China.   

The study asked over 6000 respondents from six Chinese cities a series of questions to evaluate their knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and practices related to HIV and AIDS.  Among the key findings were:

-    Only 19 percent of interviewees said they would use a condom if they had sex with a new partner and nearly 30 percent did not know how to use a condom correctly

-    Nearly half of interviewees would not be willing to eat with a person infected with HIV, and 63 percent would not be willing to have their hair cut by an infected person

-    11 percent of respondents had had sex with people who were not their spouse, or regular partner during the past 6 months, and 42 percent of these had not used a condom

-    32 percent of people thought people with HIV/AIDS deserved their disease because of their sexual behavior or drug abuse

-    Nearly 90 percent of respondents felt they were not at risk of HIV transmission.

(the full study can be found here http://www.unaids.org.cn/uploadfiles/20080925150557.pdf)

These figures all show why PTE’s programs are so important.  People are not getting the information they need to protect themselves, and serious knowledge gaps are leading to stigma and discrimination, which prevents people from learning about HIV and getting themselves tested.  PTE’s groundbreaking peer-counseling website, www.hivzx.com, has now been up and running for almost a year, and has already been visited by tens of thousands of people searching for information on how to protect themselves.  Thousands of people have spoken to peer counselors and have found answers to questions which they couldn’t get answered anywhere else.  
In the run up to World AIDS Day on December 1st, we at PTE will be working to overhaul hivzx.  We will be totally redesigning the site to make it more attractive and easier to use, uploading new, improved content, specially designed to be attractive to young people and recruiting a new team of volunteers, to ensure that the site is fully staffed, and volunteers can always speak to a peer-counselor.   For World AIDS Day, we will also be holding a launch event to get hivzx in the spotlight so more people can learn about it and start to use it.  We hope to see you there!