MONTREAL, Sept 12 (AFP) - A Chinese doctor imprisoned for exposing his government's efforts to cover up an AIDS infection scandal was on Thursday awarded the first-ever International Prize for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.
Su Zhaosheng, wife of Wan Yanhai, accepted the award on behalf of her husband, who was "active in bringing to light a public health scandal that Beijing would like to sweep under the rug...," said the prize's organizers, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and international civil liberties advocates, Human Rights Watch.
Wan, 38, launched a public awareness campaign in China's eastern Henan province after it was discovered that hundreds of thousands of rural villagers were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, through faulty blood collection practices in government-backed clinics.
HRW said Wan had in August received a secret government research report about the blood-collection scandal, and then forwarded it to an electronic mailing list.
He disappeared shortly thereafter, and was reported missing August 24. His wife said he was arrested for divulging state secrets, though Chinese authorities have denied any knowledge of Wan or his whereabouts.
"The report my husband distributed contained little information that had
not already been published," said Su Zhaosheng, who currently lives in Los Angeles.
"His efforts to ensure people in China have access to up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS shows that he is a thoughtful scholar who cares about his country, about human rights, and about HIV prevention in China."
Strongly reiterating their concern for Wan's detention, the prize organizers hailed his "extraordinary risks to break down the conspiracy of silence around AIDS in China and protect the rights of those infected."
Wan had worked for the Chinese government and founded its first AIDS hotline in 1992.
After his dismissal from his post for openness about sexual minorities and their risk of contracting HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, Wan had since 1994 coordinated the AIZHI (AIDS) Action Project, which provides some of the only basic information on the deadly Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome available to people in China.
"Wan has led efforts to uncover the blood collection scandal in Henan and combat widespread social prejudice against rural villagers infected with HIV," said Joanne Csete, who directs the HIV/AIDS program for HRW.
"Any country concerned about the health of its people would make such basic health information public in a second. China has imprisoned a man who is one of its best allies in the fight against a lethal and growing epidemic."
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