The United Nations has launched a project in China to support and empower people living with HIV to work as effective policy advocates and educators against the disease.

"Positive Talks", which is being implemented by Marie Stopes International China, aims to train and support 35 men and women living with HIV and AIDS to give "positive talks" at various HIV-related advocacy, prevention, care and awareness events.

Kang Hui, who heads the scheme, said: "The project not only builds the confidence of trainers, but also inspires participants to accept their status.

"It also helps them to increase public understanding of HIV and those living with the virus."

Stigma and shame have long hampered prevention and treatment efforts, and are recognized as major contributors to the spread of the HIV epidemic, he said.

Because HIV/AIDS is often wrongly perceived as a disease that is exclusive to marginalized groups and judgmentally viewed as being caused by "morally blameful" behavior, people are deterred from talking about it or getting tested, Kang said.

Subinay Nandy, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) country director for China, said: "There is now a stronger need than ever to reach the general public and humanize the face of the HIV epidemic."

It must be presented as a reality that can affect anybody, rather than a distant possibility affecting others.

"By doing so, we can counter prejudice, ignorance and discriminatory attitudes toward people living with HIV," he said.

Bernhard Schwartlander, country director for the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said: "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 dispelling social myths and misconceptions."

A Positive Talks trainer, Gao Fei, who contracted HIV from his late wife, said he feels an urgency to speak out and present the true image of people living with HIV to the public.

"Many people with the virus face tremendous pressure," Gao said.

"But more objective views and the understanding of society can help them face up to their fears and come out of the shadows."

(China Daily November 29, 2007)