Fighting the Stigma: Volunteers in China educate youth on HIV and AIDS

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With proper lifelong treatment, people living with HIV and AIDS can live normal and productive lives. And if viral load is undetectable in the body, there's a very low chance of transmission. But stigma and prejudice still exist. CGTN's Wang Yuan finds out how volunteers and medical workers in Beijing are fighting the stigma.

At You'An Hospital in the Chinese capital, Xiaohui and other volunteers from non-governmental organization Home of Love are heading to a university in the southern Daxing district.

XIAO HUI PEER EDUCATION VOLUNTEER We're here to lecture and educate students on AIDS prevention.

Volunteers and experts answer tons of questions like, what is the difference between AIDS patients and people living with HIV? How effective are condoms to prevent AIDS?

For medical workers and volunteers closely working with people affected by HIV and AIDS, it is also an opportunity to address stigma and discrimination.

FU YAN, HEAD NURSE HOME OF LOVE Most people living with AIDS have heavy mental pressure. They like to keep their status confidential in fear of alienation.

Home of Love was established in 1998, the first NGO supporting people living with HIV in China.

XIAO HUI PEER EDUCATION VOLUNTEER "Here we do counselling and free HIV testing for key populations. If confirmed positive, the person is informed immediately in private, and intervention will proceed if necessary, in an office next door, called the Quiet Garden workshop."

FU YAN, HEAD NURSE HOME OF LOVE Here is a private and safe place for them to talk about their fears, confusion, pain and sorrow. People can tell their secrets to this tree. Behind it, they can write down their message to society, to us, to their partners and put it in these bags.

Duan Yi has been working as a full-time volunteer for ten years. He once saved a person on the brink of suicide, upon discovering being infected.

DUAN YI PEER EDUCATION VOLUNTEER Once, a guy was about to throw himself under an incoming car. I found out that he was just about to get married and was most worried about telling his girlfriend about being infected. I showed the couple many examples of HIV affected couples living well. They finally calmed down. Now the woman is seven months pregnant, expecting a healthy baby.

Such improvement, according to a UNAIDS official, requires collective effort.

AMAKOBE SANDE UNAIDS COUNTRY DIRECTOR, REP. TO PRC Government and social groups and health facilities, reaching these unreachable populations, who feel too scared to come forward. If we come together for partnership, then we can look forward to a new era, where we can truly achieve, like UNAIDS are saying, the end of AIDS.

But challenges remain for ending the epidemic as a public health threat by 2030, including unstable funding, a lack of social welfare for volunteers, and most importantly, fighting stigma and discrimination -- which entails educating the youth.

WANG LIQIANG TEACHER, VOLUNTEER We have included AIDS prevention in our public education courses, teaching students to protect themselves and others in the right way.

LI JIAXIN STUDENT "I have learned more about HIV/AIDS and its transmission methods. I'd like to befriend people living with HIV. I will use what I learned today to persuade others against the stigma and prejudice."

Xiaohui and other volunteers say they hope young people can have access to comprehensive education on sex, as well as AIDS prevention as a better tomorrow, begins today. Wang Yuan, CGTN Beijing.