l as professor’s contribution in combating HIV/AIDS is acknowledged

Beijing, 17 September 2008 –- UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot presented Wednesday, 17, the “UNAIDS Award for Outstanding Contributions to the AIDS Response” to Professor Li Xiguang, Executive Dean of School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, as well as Chinese basket ball icon Yao Ming, and UNAIDS Special Representative Serge Dumont, Senior Vice President and President Asia Pacific of Omnicom Group Inc.

“I am really pleased that the AIDS response has the critical support of sports stars, the business community, media and academia alike. AIDS is so much more than a health issue and without the help of champions like the ones we honour today, we cannot be successful in stopping the spread of AIDS”, Dr. Piot said in a speech to mark the presentation ceremony held at Tsinghua School of medicine.

Professor Li Xiguang, one of the three activists honoured during the ceremony is the Vice Director of Tsinghua Comprehensive AIDS Research Center. In his humble acceptance speech Li Xiguang pointed out that journalists can make an important difference to how people think about AIDS through good reporting. “False perceptions need to be overcome by communicating correct information in interesting and innovative ways”, Li Xiguang said.

Li Xiguang is China’s leading health journalism educator and his team has also been serving as the country’s top think tank and media policy advisor in public health, such as in the fights against HIA/AIDS, SARS, bird flu and tobacco control.

He has edited and authored a number of educational books such as HIV/AIDS Media Book, Reporting against Stigmas: HIV/AIDS stories from China, A Handbook for Human Rights Reporting and A Handbook for Tobacco Control Reporting.

In appreciation of the need for collaborative efforts between the academia, business and sports as well as other areas of skills Dr. Peter Piot urged professionals from different backgrounds to find a common platform to fight AIDS. “There is hope that we can win the fight and stop new infections, if we work together across our professional fields, he said.

AIDS work in China has in the past 5 years been strengthened significantly by the increasing mobilisation of many different non-health sectors such as private business and the media. However, much remains to be done.A resent survey supported by UNAIDS found that 65% of the surveyed adult population were unwilling to live in the same household as a person living with HIV. Nearly 50 % thought mistakenly that HIV can be transmitted through a mosquito bite.

Jonathan Gandari

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