From Reuters:
Chinese AIDS victims are dying needlessly because a “tragic stigma” prevents them seeking help in a country where one fifth of people think the disease can be passed on by sharing a toilet, a top activist said on Thursday.
The government has promised to hand out free, Chinese-made drugs to anyone infected with the disease and the country’s leaders have met those living with HIV/AIDS but there is still widespread ignorance about how it is spread.
Two thirds of the 6,000 people questioned for a recent survey of six cities said they would be unwilling to live with an infected person, and a fifth said they would be unwilling to care even for a relative with the illness.
Nearly 10 percent even thought working in a room with an infected person would be enough to pass on HIV, according to the report commissioned by UNAIDS and partners.
