Joint efforts seen in raising awareness on HIV/AIDS

When a college student in a short film is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, he weighs two possible scenarios. In the first, he is devastated by the diagnosis, rejects medical help and, eventually, dies. In the second, he keeps a positive attitude, follows a treatment regimen and returns to campus.

The parallel lives of the student unfold in the short film, which was submitted to a recently held national competition on minidramas. Produced by a team of students from Xianyang Normal University in Shaanxi province, the short film aims to spread awareness regarding HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

"When developing the plot, we intended to focus more on the psychological toll HIV/AIDS takes on the individual concerned. Although awareness on prevention and treatment of the disease has greatly increased over the years, many people still find themselves grappling with heavy psychological stress," said Zhang Congqian, head of the student affairs office at the university's College of Physics and Electronics Engineering, who supervised production of the film.

"Through the film, we aim to nurture a more scientific viewpoint on the disease and highlight the significance of complying with scientific treatment plans to tackle the disease," said Zhang, who was speaking during an event organized last week by the China Red Ribbon Foundation to mark World AIDS Day, which fell on Sunday.

The foundation has been hosting the annual minidrama competition involving college students in China for four years now. This year's contest received submissions from 51 universities and one volunteer team, and the results were declared on Thursday. The event represented a nationwide drive to promote awareness about the disease.

Health authorities said the country has made advances in controlling new HIV infections and expanding access to standard treatments, thanks to concerted efforts made by both the public and private sectors, but challenges remain in realizing the United Nations' goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

During a visit to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong said the HIV/AIDS situation in China is effectively managed, with a low prevalence rate. However, factors contributing to the spread of HIV are complicated and varied, making it a challenging task to control the infections altogether.

Official data shows that China has effectively halted transmission of HIV through transfusion of blood and blood products. The data also shows that the country has reined in mother-to-baby transmissions as well as the spread of the virus through injection drug use.

The success rate of antiviral treatment has reached 95 percent. The quality of life of infected individuals has improved, while discrimination against them has decreased. In addition, the annual number of new HIV infections among young students has remained steady at around 3,000 over the past five years.

Liu called for boosting surveillance against the disease, carrying out interventions to detect new infections more promptly, improving treatment methods and stepping up research on novel drugs, vaccines and other related technologies.

He added that it is important to strengthen public education regarding the disease and ramp up humanitarian care for infected individuals to help them better cope with the disease.

Peng Liyuan, the wife of President Xi Jinping and a goodwill ambassador of the World Health Organization for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, encouraged college students to engage in educational activities on campuses to raise awareness.

Peng also honored a number of student representatives during an awareness promotion event held recently in Beijing. She interacted with college students, medical workers and volunteers, encouraging them to join efforts to fight the disease, spread positivity and strive to keep HIV/AIDS away from campuses.

Commenting on the minidrama competition, Kelly Koo, a senior officer at the China Country Office of the United Nations Refugee Agency, said it was inspiring to see thousands of students from across China join the initiative to prevent HIV/AIDS stigmatization and advocate nondiscrimination through short films.

Koo encouraged the China Red Ribbon Foundation to continue educating college students and using culture as an entry point to motivate the entire society to commit to the HIV/AIDS cause.