Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) visited a nightclub in Taipei’s Xinyi (信義) shopping district yesterday evening to promote safe sex as part of a campaign against HIV and AIDS.
Yaung’s rare nightclub appearance came on the eve of World AIDS Day as part of his efforts to remind young people of the need to protect themselves from HIV infection.
Yang was accompanied by “Piaochung,” an HIV-infected gay male, and AIDS patients rights activists on the visit. Piaochung shared his feelings and experiences since being diagnosed with HIV in 2005 and called for an end to discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients.
Free HIV/AIDS screening tests have been offered over the week to mark World AIDS Day, a move the Centers for Disease Control hopes will encourage people to get tested for the disease that has increasingly hit Taiwan’s younger generation in recent years.
The free tests are being offered at 798 test stations nationwide until Friday, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ting (林頂) said. Syphilis tests would also be conducted upon request, he added.
Although the reported cases of AIDS have decreased from 1,932 in 2007 to 1,648 this year, Lin said that students are quickly becoming a major infected segment of the population.
The number of infected students, especially young people in the age bracket between 15 and 24, continue to grow at an accelerated rate, Lin said, and they now account for about 10 percent of the AIDS population in Taiwan.
People with active sex lives can take advantage of the free testing program, Lin said, and he reminded people that anonymous testing is also available in many health institutions across the nation.
Lin also urged people not to use blood donations as substitutes for screening because of the high risk of contaminated blood being used for transfusions.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
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