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A video featuring NBA stars Yao Ming  and Michael 'Magic' Johnson will be launched in Hong Kong next month as part of a new campaign to appeal for help fighting the Aids crisis on the mainland.

David Ho Dai-i, a  renowned Aids expert who visited Hong Kong last week  to organise the campaign, said the video aimed to send a message of anti-discrimination.

He said Yao  and  Johnson would play basketball together in the advertisement. 'One is Chinese, one is American; and one infected and one uninfected. Our message is, 'it is okay to be with an HIV-infected [person]',' Dr Ho said.

The video will be launched during a two-hour television programme on TVB on October 16. The programme will  focus on the latest Aids situation on the mainland, and appeal for help from Hong Kong people. Three of the Chinese Olympic gold medallists  who visited Hong Kong recently - as well as superstars including Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat  - will also make appeals on the show.

Last year, Dr Ho was invited by the University of Hong Kong to work with its microbiologists to study whether the theory of antiviral drugs for HIV could also be applied to Sars.

In July 2002, his New York centre set up a joint Aids research laboratory, the Aids Institute University of Hong Kong.

But Dr Ho said funding for the institute was still unclear. 'Initially, when Antony Leung [Kam-chung]  was the financial secretary, he pledged government support to that centre. But when he left the office, all that was in confusion.'

The university was now considering using its own funds to sustain the laboratory, Dr Ho said.



NBA idols in Aids video to fight discrimination