If China does not check AIDS in time, the country's achievements
in human rights protection might be cast into the wind and China
might be the scene of the same tragedies in southern Africa, a
human rights expert warned Saturday.
China's media should improve and shoulder more responsibilities
to fight against AIDS, said Yang Zhengquan, executive
vice-president of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development
(CFHRD).
Zhang made the remarks in a keynote report at China's first
symposium on news coverage on AIDS, which opened in Beijing
Saturday.
AIDS-HIV patients have been reported in all of the 31 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities in China's mainland, said
Yang, but the news coverage on AIDS is still narrow and
shallow.
The media should help promote more knowledge on AIDS prevention
and keep the people aware of the development of AIDS and avoid too
much social panic at the same time, Yang said.
A record three million people died of AIDS across the world last
year, according to the Global AIDS Epidemic Report of 2003
published by the World Health Organization. China's HIV carriers
are expected to top 12 million by 2010.
The forum, which will conclude April 19, was sponsored by the
Center for International Communications Studies of Qinghua
University, the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships in the United
States and CFHRD.
CFHRD was set up in 1994 as a non-governmental organization with
a tenet to develop and complete China's human rights cause and
promote human rights understanding and cooperation with other
countries.
(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2004)