Over 140 family planning officials from seven provinces in China attended a two-day training seminar here, learning how to combine their population work experience with the fight against HIV/AIDS.

At the Aug. 15-16 Initiative and Training Workshop for Population and Family Planning Sectors in Global Fund HIV/AIDS Program Areas, family planning officials from 58 counties or districts received training on China's HIV/AIDS situation, prevention and control measures, condom use programs and how to care for and support people living with HIV/AIDS.

Officials and medical experts from the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), Global Fund HIV/AIDS China program office, World Health Organization and Chinese Central for Disease Prevention and Control shared their knowledge of the epidemic at the workshop.

China's population and family planning department has a nationwide network, including the grassroots level, which helps it outperform others in carrying out educational programs on HIV/AIDS, HIV monitoring, consulting and offering assistance to the HIV-infected, Ma Yugen, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment expert and one of the trainers, said.

He said the participation of population and family planning commissions is beneficial to helping the general public to protect themselves and care about the HIV-infected by knowing more about the disease.

"I used to think AIDS was not our domain, but the training has changed my mind. I think we should fight against it and moreover, take the initiative," said Yang Fujian from the Hubei provincial population and family planning commission in central China.

"The biggest change the two-day training has made on me is I come to understand that the HIV-infected not only need material support, but more humanitarian care and understanding from the public."

These officials each received a questionnaire to evaluate their understanding about HIV/AIDS transmission channels, prevention measures, the right attitude toward the HIV-infected and how they think they should do in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In central Henan Province, family planning officials have launched a campaign designed to help people with HIV/AIDS, including holding training programs on AIDS prevention among village family planning officials and the newly-weds, handing out material on AIDS to the migrating population, issuing free condoms in rural areas and educating the public on correct condom use methods and benefits of condom use.

They have also invested more in building HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) capacity and offering financial assistance to disadvantaged HIV-infected groups such as poor mothers, orphans and pregnant women.

NPFPC deputy director Zhao Baige said combining genital health, family planning services and AIDS prevention and control is an internationally-acknowledged best practice, but the efforts made so far are only a beginning, which requires family planning commissions to transform their network advantage into real capacity advantage.

Source: Xinhua