Olympic bronze medalist flyweight boxer Huang Hsiao-wen (黃筱雯) has released a government-sponsored short video on World AIDS Day yesterday to raise awareness about HIV testing, in the hope that people infected with the virus can seek treatment earlier.
The one-minute video shows Huang getting knocked down during a fight, only to pull herself up again.
“Maybe I can’t change my environment or what others think of me, but I can change my fate. I believe by not surrendering and succumbing to fate and bravely living my life, I will be victorious,” Huang says in the video to motivate herself before continuing the fight.
The video, to be used as a public service announcement, aims to inform people that HIV tests are nonintrusive and can be done privately and discreetly, Huang said on Tuesday.
Many hospitals provide anonymous testing services, while self-test kits can be ordered online from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and collected at convenience stores, said Huang, the CDC’s promotional ambassador for this year’s World AIDS Day.
Born in 1997, Huang won Taiwan’s first Olympic boxing medal at the Tokyo Olympics this year, after winning bronze at the 2018 Asian Games and gold at the 2019 International Boxing Association (amateur) Women’s World Boxing Championships.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said he expects about 1,250 HIV cases this year, down 11 percent from 1,389 cases last year.
Case numbers have steadily dropped over the past four years, with 2,508 in 2017, 1,983 in 2018 and 1,748 in 2019, Lo said.
Taiwan hopes to achieve the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS’ 95-95-95 target by 2025, he said.
That means that 95 percent of HIV-positive people know about their infection, 95 percent of knowingly HIV-positive people receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 95 percent of those in therapy have suppressed viral loads.
Lo said that Taiwan is at 90 percent, 93 percent and 95 percent respectively, and expects to raise the share of those receiving antiretroviral therapy by 1 percentage point until the end of this year.
To reach that goal, the CDC prioritizes testing, he said.
CDC data showed that 34,477 people in Taiwan are HIV-positive, and 7,550 have died related to the disease since it was first reported.
Observed annually on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the disease and remembering those who have died from AIDS-related conditions.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS