China HIV/AIDS Mortality Rate Can Be Reduced: UNAIDS Executive Director

In an interview with Xinhua Tuesday in Beijing, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe stressed that the mortality rate for HIV/AIDS can be reduced through early treatment and other measures.

"Just 10 years ago, no one would have believed that we could give treatment to poor people," Sidibe said, noting progress by the international community. "In some parts of the world, we have people under the same medicine for years, like in Africa, so we need to make sure that they can have early access to better medicine." He also said "the world is not doing enough to really find the vaccine."

Last December, Sidibe met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, people living with HIV and other stakeholders. The talks, he said, demonstrated Wen's personal commitment to the fight against AIDS. A joint research report released by UNAIDS and China showed that by the end of 2011, an estimated 780,000 people in China were thought to be living with HIV/AIDS.

Sidibe also gave a new UNAIDS award to the president of Xinhua News Agency, Li Congjun, for contributions to the global campaign on the "three-zeroes" vision set forth by UNAIDS: zero new infections, zero discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, and zero HIV/AIDS-related deaths. Xinhua helped publicize the 2011 World AIDS Day through its media sources and also sponsored an LED billboard in Manhattan's Times Square showing HIV prevention images.

Sidibe said the media can "give the voice to the voiceless," tell people know where to get help, and provide ways to advocate and bring social mobilization.

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