Sir Roger Moore hits out at Chinese hotels for shunning AIDS kids
11-Aug-2004 • Actor News
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Moore, now a UNICEF goodwill envoy who is visiting China to draw attention to the problems of children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis, said Beijing hotels, hostels and schools "should hang their heads in shame" for not helping the 72 children.
Chinese newspapers reported in recent days that the children, attending a UNICEF camp that opened on Tuesday, had been turned away by 30 to 40 hotels or schools.
China estimates it has 840,000 people with HIV/AIDS, but experts say the figure is more likely to be between 1 million and 1.5 million. The United Nations says the number could rise to 10 million if the epidemic is not treated seriously.
Experts say at least 1 million poor farmers were infected in the central province of Henan alone as a result of botched blood-selling schemes.
Some 78,000 children have lost parents to AIDS in China, UNICEF says.
The discrimination reflected widespread misconceptions about HIV/AIDS and how it is transmitted, but Moore said he was optimistic that China could overcome the problem.
"The battle will be won," the actor told a news conference. "It is an uphill battle, but it will be, and we must get across, with your help, to people that there should be no stigma."
Misunderstanding of AIDS in China runs deep, despite recent signs from the central government that it is serious about tackling the problem.
Reports of detention and harassment of AIDS activists persist. This week, the Aizhixing Institute of Health Education said Li Dan, an activist who attended the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok in July, had been detained briefly in the central province of Henan. Li said in recent days he had been harassed and pursued by men who he believed had been sent after him by the police.
Thanks to `Liam` for the alert.
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