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Millions of Spring Festival Travellers Targeted by Yao Ming Anti-Stigma Campaign
Source: | Author:hkb980dd | Published time: 2010-04-09 | 307 Views | Share:
The period surrounding the Chinese Spring Festival is invariably the busiest transport season in China, with millions of people returning to their hometowns, often travelling thousands of kilometers to be with friends and loved ones. The enormous scale of this migration is demonstrated by estimates from China’s Ministry of Railways, which predicts that 210 million passengers will have been transported on Chinese railways during the 2010 Spring Festival travel season, lasting from 30th January to 10th March.
 
A significant proportion of these travelers belong to populations who may be at higher risk of HIV infection, such as migrant workers, and this travel period therefore presents a unique opportunity to disseminate key messages on HIV-related stigma and discrimination. International Labour Organisation (ILO) Programme Officer Ms. Wu Rulian underscored the importance of targeting migrant workers: “Migrant workers are often at significantly greater risk of HIV infection than other less mobile groups. Often far from their families and normal social support networks, migrant workers are more likely to engage in risk behaviours associated with HIV, such as drug use, visiting sex workers, etc.” With this objective in mind, UNAIDS and ILO teamed up with Mega Media to target these travelers with an exciting campaign public service announcement (PSA) produced by UNAIDS featuring the world famous NBA basketball star Yao Ming.


Yao Ming, together with his fans, some living with HIV, some not
 
Support for this campaign from Mega Media has allowed the Yao Ming campaign PSA to be shown on over 5600 video screens in 315 stations across China for a period of five weeks, reaching an estimated 60 million viewers. By allowing the use of its screens at a small fraction of the normal market price Mega Media, has made an extremely valuable contribution to this initiative, and shown the value of partnership in the response to AIDS. Mr. Zeng Yuquan, Vice President of Mega Media said, “We are very happy to be cooperating with UNAIDS and ILO to help to prevent the spread of HIV and improve the health of migrant workers and others. This initiative has been extremely successful and really demonstrates how much can be achieved when partners from different sectors join forces to address an issue.“


Train users watch the Yao Ming PSA in Beijing South Railway Station
 
The Yao Ming video is designed to appeal to the general public, and features Yao Ming together with a group of his fans, some of whom are living with HIV, and some of whom are not. Yao Ming says “Some of my friends are living with HIV. Some are not. What about it? We are all friends and united against HIV.” Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer, UNAIDS China Country Coordinator, commended Yao Ming for his active involvement in the campaign. “This campaign really sets an example of how a celebrity like Yao Ming, who has millions of fans both in China and across the globe, can help to spread these incredibly important messages, and bring about real changes in the way people think and behave.”
 
“I think it’s a really important campaign for letting people know about AIDS, as usually it is not a topic that people talk about openly,” said Ms. Li, a migrant worker from China’s Dongbei region, after seeing the Yao Ming PSA in Beijing South Railway Station. “Just like Yao Ming does in the video, we should treat people with HIV with respect, and not be afraid of them,” she said.