Hong Kong should use its cutting-edge technology in global fight against Aids, says UN official as city registers significant decline in disease
- Hong Kong records significant 43.6 per cent drop in newly reported HIV infections, from 725 in 2015 to 409 last year
- UN official Erasmus Morah calls on city, mainland China to not only eliminate Aids domestically, but also help Africa, other developing regions in their fight
Hong Kong can help bridge the global digital divide in the battle against Aids, a UN official has said, praising the city for slashing the immunodeficiency disease transmission rate by almost half in just seven years.
Erasmus Morah, director and representative of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAids) China Office, made his remarks at the opening of the 7th Aids forum of Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan on Monday.
During his speech at the two-day event in Hong Kong, Morah called on mainland China to not only eliminate Aids domestically but also to help Africa and other developing regions in their fight. Hong Kong should also lend a hand, he added.
“Hong Kong is a great window to the world and must do its part and pull together with the mainland to help [defeat] Aids all over the world,” he said after the opening.
Singling out the cross-continental divide, Morah said Hong Kong could help with providing the hi-tech solutions, such as digital diagnostic tools, that were needed to assist African countries struggling to connect with people in remote areas.
“Hong Kong is at a very advanced edge [of technology],” he said.
Morah also lauded Hong Kong for bringing down its reported infections so rapidly, calling it a “very rare” achievement in the battles against Aids.
“Well done,” he said. “This is what UNAids preaches – that you can halve new infections in a short space of time.”
According to the Centre for Health Protection, Hong Kong’s newly reported HIV infections have dropped from a peak of 725 in 2015 to just 409 last year, a 43.6 per cent decrease.
More than 100 experts and NGO representatives are taking part in the forum held every two years that has been convened since 2010. The Hong Kong Aids Foundation hosts this year’s edition, which focuses on ending the stigma surrounding HIV/Aids.
In a pre-recorded address at the opening ceremony, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu described ending such discrimination as an “important goal” of his administration.
“We believe that only by creating a friendly and non-discriminatory social environment can people suspected of being infected be encouraged to get tested for the virus as early as possible,” he said.
“Only in this way can we help people living with HIV have the courage to receive treatment as early as possible.”
Among those who attended the opening ceremony were acclaimed Aids researcher Professor David Ho, former World Health Organization chief and current dean of Vanke School of Public Health of Tsinghua University Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun and Hong Kong Aids Foundation chairman Leong Che-hung.
While Leong celebrated Hong Kong’s achievements in reducing new HIV infections, he warned against normalising the disease.
He said that medical advancements now allowed those living with HIV to lead a “fairly” normal life, but added: “Regrettably, this has brought on the wrong attitude – that having HIV/Aids is all right.
“Many governments have lost their vigilance against the disease.”
Leong urged those living with HIV/Aids to continue using medication properly and called on Hongkongers to practise safe sex. He noted that the “most important” way to eliminate the disease was to end the stigma surrounding it.
“People will realise ‘OK, I’m HIV positive. I don’t mind telling people because I will get the proper treatment,’” he said.
Last year, the Hong Kong Advisory Council on Aids issued a five-year strategy that aims to eliminate Aids as a public health threat by 2030 by reducing the number of HIV infections to near zero.
The goal is in line with the aims of UNAids, which seeks to reduce infections and related deaths by 90 per cent by 2030, compared with a 2010 baseline.
