"FREE HUG TO HEP B PATIENTS" ACTIVITY GOT WARM RESPONSE IN CHINA

Beijing Yirenping Center

January 5^th, 2009

(Zhengzhou, China, January 5^th, 2009)--"The Heptatis B virus cannot be transmitted through hug or casual contact. I am an Hep B patient, would you like to have a free hug?" At 2:00 PM of January 4th, 2009, a young lady held a banner in the street of Zhengzhou City. The young lady was named Zhang Wen, a volunteer of Hep B patient group . Zhang Wen said that the purpose of this activity was to make the medical knowledge about Hepatitis B known in the citizen, so that the stigma and discrimination against Hep B patient should be decreased. It is reported that this action is the first in China.

Zhang Wen's action got the support from a Zhejiang boy, Xiao Lei and a Beijing girl, Xiao Wu, who are both volunteers of Hep B patient groups. They decided to do it in Zhengzhou City after they had learned of Zhang Wen's idea.

This activity lasted from 2:00 PM to about 4:00 PM. The invitation to free hug was made to 101 citizens, 82 accepted and 19 refused. Furthermore, a lot of citizens took the brochures about HBV handed out by Zhang, Lei, and Wu.

The activity has received extensive attention from the Media. The largest local television, Henan TV, reported the activity all the way and interviewed a medical expert in the show. The expert instructed the medical knowledge on HBV in the interview and the anchorman called on people to treat Hep B patients fairly, instead of discriminating them. Besides, almost all the newspapers reported the activity.

Zhang Wen’s story:

Zhang Wen, a Guangxi girl，was 27 years old. Once she was found affected Hepatitis B virus, she was isolated from her classmates and the information was spreaded in the whole college. She also encountered discrimination in job hunting. Zhang Wen was deeply hurt in such experience and she decided to work for Hep B NGO as a volunteer. She has done a lot of work before this activity in Zhengzhou City.

Xiao Lei’s story:

Xiao Lei, a student from Zhejiang University, is also an HBV carrier. His brother, an HBV carrier, too, had been refused by many companies after graduation. Xiao Lei was deeply shocked and then began to engage in the popularization of Heptatis B knowledge. Xiao Lei wrote to more than 500 members of Chinese Academy of Science in September, 2008, to complain about the mistreat to HBV carriers in the graduate entrance examination.

Xiao Wu’s story:

Xiao Wu is a 23 years old girl from Beijing. She was keen in public welfare since entered college and has done a lot in the prevention and control in Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. In 2007, several Hep B positive mothers sobbed to her about the fact that their Hep B positive babies were refused by kindergartens. Xiao Wu then began to work for babies' right to go to kindergarten.

Background:

There are about 100 million Hepatitis B virus carriers in China. Due to the mis-understanding of Hepatitis B, the stigma and discrimination against HBV carriers is rather common in China. According to a survey issued by the Chinese Medical Association (CMA), 52% of HBV carriers lost the opportunity to work or study. It is reported by China Hepatitis Prevention and Cure Foundation that 37.5% of respondents are not willing to co-work or dine with HBV carriers, and 55.36% refuse to marry HBV carriers.

The video of the FREE HUG activity: http://219.156.123.174/all/2009-01/04/cms11468article.shtml

The photos of the activity:

http://www.hbvhbv.name/files/FREE HUG.jpg

http://www.hbvhbv.name/files/FREE HUG.2.jpg

http://www.hbvhbv.name/files/FREE HUG.3.jpg