Two positive people in Hubei Province meet the public with their healthy partners
[Xinhuanet Wuhan, 24 April 2005]
http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2005-04-24/16585737277s.shtml
Reporters; Li Changzheng, Xu Zhengdong

On April 24th, two people with HIV – together with their newly-wed and healthy spouses – took part in a meeting with the media entitled “Love Under the Sun” in Wuhan.

Both of the positive people come from Dazhi City. One of them is 48 years old and contracted the virus along with his wife, when noth of them sold blood at a hospital in Henan in 1995. His wife died in 2001. This man has known his healthy wife since the two of them were children, after renewed contact they fell in love. Before this, they had been separated for many years. They received their marriage certificate from the Dazhi Civil Affairs Bureau on April 6th.

The other positive person is a thirty year old woman. She and her late husband were infected after selling blood some years ago. Four years ago, AIDS took her husband’s life. When she went to work in Wuhan she befriended a young man working on a construction site. The two of them registered their marriage in March this year.

The deputy diretor of the Hubei Provincial CDC, Li Hanfan said, “we do not encourage AIDS carriers to marry healthy people because they can pass on the virus to their partners, and also to any children through mother-child transmission. But we do give them the relevant information and take preventive measures in order to lower the risk of transmission as much as possible.” At a time when talking about AIDS can still cast a shadow in many places, the fact that carriers can marry normal people, shows that people are forming correct understandings of AIDS and that fear of the disease has been reduced.

According to an official from Dazhi City, the relevant parties held a joint wedding ceremony for the couples on April 28th.

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