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February 19, 2003

Media Contacts: Franci Duitch, (858) 822-1131 or Dolores Davies, (858) 534-5994

CHINESE AIDS ADVOCATE WAN YANHAI TO SPEAK AT UCSD FEB. 20

Dr. Wan Yanhai, China’s most prominent advocate for patients of HIV/AIDS, will discuss the HIV/AIDS crisis in China at 5 p.m., Feb. 20 at the University of California, San Diego. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be held at the Robinson Auditorium at UCSD’s Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.

After a one-month detention by China’s State Security apparatus last year, Wan was released following an international outcry over his arrest. His detention cast a spotlight on China’s AIDS problem, which is thought to be significant, especially in the absence of adequate intervention through treatment and education. Although China has recently begun to acknowledge its AIDS crisis, government officials have viewed independent advocates like Wan as a threat.

Wan, who currently resides in Los Angeles, has spoken out widely in China and internationally on HIV/AIDS and human rights. As a physician and founder of the Beijing AIDS Action Health Education Institute, Wan was the 2002 recipient of the Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch. He was also one of five human rights activists honored in Dec. to commemorate Defenders’ Day at the United Nations.

Wan’s UCSD lecture is sponsored by the university’s Institute of International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), AIDS Research Institute, and the Chinese Studies Program.