Celebrities, Politician Launch HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong-based group AIDS Concern last week launched a campaign that aims to address HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination by involving four local celebrities and a politician, Reuters UK reports. The campaign began on Wednesday and includes posters of the five individuals, who include actor Daniel Wu, politician Alan Leong and cartoonist Alice Mak. The posters will appear for one month on buses and subway platforms, as well as in newspapers and magazines. Each poster asks in the local dialect a question that starts, "If I were HIV-positive ..." For example, the Wu poster says, "If I were HIV-positive, would I be offered the leading role in a movie?"

AIDS Concern also aims to launch the campaign in schools and universities in Hong Kong. Campaign organizer Loretta Wong of AIDS Concern said, "People are afraid of being labeled and isolated." Leong said that many people are "ignorant about the disease, and some think they can be infected through shaking hands or having a meal together with a sufferer." He added, "These misunderstandings create obstacles to the prevention of the disease. ... People are scared to get tested or even seek treatment, and that could help spread the disease" (Reuters UK, 11/21).