Fight to the Finish

During her music tours, Li Yuchun doesn't normally take the time to visit a prime HIV/AIDS risk group: young migrant workers. Yet the 24-year-old Chinese pop singer recently made a special trip to meet with one such group in the Bebei district of the Chongqing municipality on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

While there, she shared her personal experiences with 26 migrant workers from local night clubs and beauty salons about HIV/AIDS prevention, and about healthy lifestyles among youth by acting out educational dramas with them.

One of the workers, Wu Hong (not her real name), is a masseuse at the Butterfly Saloon. She was overwhelmed in a game "Hazard Zone" when Li Yuchun played a role of a job hunter holding a sign that said "Massage."

"That reminds me of exactly what I experienced when I first came to the city. I went looking for a job in the labor market, holding a sign that said 'Massage'" says the 17-year-old Wu. Wu's parents had migrated to a southern city to work at a shoe shine stand, leaving her behind at their rural home.

"I'm a big fan of Li Yuchun and I was relieved when she told us that skin contact couldn't cause AIDS."

Wu earns her living as a masseuse. She says she has always worried that she might catch HIV through skin contact. "My cousin was a masseuse for a shot time. She died of AIDS," Wu notes.

As to Wu's hero, Li Yuchun, the activity "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" organized by the UNICEF Office for China is "a most inspiring one." Li has become a new pop icon, popular for her boyish charm and unconventional personality. She gained fame in 2005 when she won the nation-wide "Super Girl" singing contest, the Chinese version of "American Idol".

"In the course of playing games and drawing pictures with them, I've learned a great deal about the life my peers confronted as migrant workers, and gained a deeper appreciation of what life is like for them, " says Li. She visited young migrant workers in Beibei as the Youth Ambassador for the M.A.C AIDS Fund in China, which made a donation of one million yuan in 2007 to the UNICEF China to help prevent the spread of HIV among young people aged 15-24.

A satellite district in northern Chongqinng, Beibei is a region on the border between urban and rural areas. It has a population of 680,000, most of them who came to the city as migrant workers right after graduation from junior high school.

"These children are too young to know how society works. Often the young girls are taken to work in night clubs, and the boys turn to drug abuse," says Ou Kaihua, the director of Beibei Health Education Institute.

"That makes the task of HIV/AIDS prevention quite tough."

The number of HIV infections climbed to 368 by the end of 2007 since the first HIV/AIDS patient was reported in Beibei in 1999. "Most of them are young migrant workers.  Most have contracted the disease from intravenous drug abuse and unsafe sex practices." Ou says.

Currently, there are about 2000 sex workers and 3000 registered drug users in Beibei mostly young, poor migrant workers.  Lacking of sufficient knowledge and skills about HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention is the primary factor contributing to the spread of the disease among these youths.

The UNFPA conducted recently conducted a survey of 2000 migrant youth aged 14 to 25 in five cities including Shanghai, Xiamen and Yancheng. The knowledge rate on HIV/AIDS was only 12.5 percent. And 72 percent of the people surveyed had had unprotected sex in their first sexual encounter, while more than 40 percent did not want to share a telephone with HIV- infected person.

The migrant youth at large are the most vulnerable group to AIDS and sexual transmitted diseases. "They face all kinds temptations in the cities. Their youth and inexperience keep them from acting rationally," points out Zhang Lei, an HIV/AIDS specialist of UNICEF Office for China.

Lily, a 17 year old pedicure worker, says a few of her clients have tried to get her to go out after work, promising her more money for one night than she makes in a month.

The figures from the CDC in China indicate that youth and migrant workers make up a large portion of 640,000 HIV cases nationwide. "The situation will become nasty very soon if we do not work to prevent this social group from contracting HIV," warns Wei Nanfang, an officer with National Institute for Health Education at China CDC.

In collaboration with Chinese government, the UNICEF Office for China initiated a program called "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" with the Youth Ambassadors in 2006.

"The Youth Ambassadors are young volunteers who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to halting the spread of AIDS and reducing stigma and discrimination in China," says Ken Legins, Chief of the HIV/AIDS Section with UNICEF Office for China.

Chosen by vote on www.youth.cn, the official website of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, the Youth Ambassadors first get training on self protection from HIV, then they go to work with youth in communities under the UNICEF programs.

Joining Li Yuchun in Beibei is a youth ambassador Qin Zhichao, 21. Qin, a biology major from the Southwestern University in downtown Beibei, compares his work with celebrity ambassadors, "Their participations produce sensational effects. Ours work to bring about a quieter and deeper influence on youth because we can frequently visit those at risk, whereas celebrities cannot."

"We work closely with the young people around us, step by step till they really understand the facts about AIDS. Then they can spread what they've learned to their friends and families," says Qin.

Indeed, the ripple effect is reflected by food vendor Liao Yuqin outside Qin's university.  "AIDS, AIDS, I'd misinterpreted into a city disease of lethal love. I told my daughter not to go out with city boys," says 37-year-old Liao.  She laughs.

"One day my 15-year-old daughter came home from school and told me what AIDS really is. Then I understood that it's not a city disease, and it's preventable as long as we avoid drug abuse, unsafe sex, and blood transfusions. I have only on child. I don't want her die from ignorance. And I don't her die of stupidity.  I want her to enjoy a full life."

The trained Youth Ambassadors in China have been deeply involved in the country's war against AIDS. Wei Nanfang, of the national CDC says, "They are providing young people  more than just information. They are out there challenging potential drug abusers and sex workers to change their behavior."

At this point, there are more 324 country-level Youth Ambassadors on the frontline in the fight across the country, he says. Given the social stigma and ignorance that are prevalent across China, Ken Legins of the UNICE, China, says that efforts to raise public awareness of HIV/AIDS should be consistently promoted.

He notes, "Mobilizing young people and their role models like Li Yuchun can help ensure the HIV/AIDS prevention message reach more people more effectively."