ADVOCATES FOR ADDICTS RECEIVE RIGHTS AWARD

City Group Works To Combat HIV, Hepatitis C

A Vancouver group that advocates for illegal-drug users has received a
national human-rights award.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch, which is giving
a Canadian award for the first time, said that the Vancouver Area Network
of Drug Users is receiving the award for its "ground-breaking efforts to
halt an explosion of HIV and hepatitis C" and its "unparallelled success at
introducing innovative harm reduction measures."

VANDU was founded in 1998 with the aim of improving the lives of drug
addicts through peer support and education. It has broken new ground in the
city and the country by allowing drug addicts to speak for themselves and
advocate for better treatment. Typically, politicians, police, social
workers or health workers speak for or about addicts.

The organization has generated its share of controversy in Vancouver, most
recently by demanding compensation for panhandlers and prostitutes if film
companies disrupt the streets and sidewalks where they earn money. As well,
group members have disrupted city council meetings to demand services for
addicts.

But the group has also been successful in running needle-exchange and
education services for addicts, with volunteers patrolling the alleys, and
in lobbying for improved health services.

It has campaigned to introduce safe-injection sites for users in Canada, a
practice in place in Europe and Australia, as a way of reducing overdose
deaths and infections among users.

The non-profit organization is run by a 15-member board of directors who
are all drug users.

Along with VANDU, a missing Chinese AIDS activist who reportedly has been
detained by China's secret police was named the recipient of the
international award.

Wan Yanhai, who was last seen Aug. 25 in Beijing, is being recognized for
publicizing an unsanitary Chinese blood-buying industry that infected
thousands of people with the AIDS virus.

Wan's wife, Su Zhaosheng, is to accept the Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and
Human Rights on his behalf in Montreal today, said a statement by New
York-based Human Rights Watch. Su lives in Los Angeles.

Friends and activists abroad, citing Chinese sources, said last week that
Wan was detained on charges of "leaking state secrets" for distributing a
government report on AIDS.

"Dr. Wan has been on the front lines of fighting an epidemic that Chinese
authorities would prefer to sweep under the rug," said a statement issued
by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

Chinese authorities have not confirmed whether Wan is in government
custody. Asked Thursday about the case, foreign ministry spokesman Kong
Quan said, "I have nothing to offer."

Wan, a former Chinese health ministry official, founded the anti-AIDS group
Aizhi Action Project in 1994 to fight discrimination against homosexuals
and people with AIDS.

He received international media coverage last year when he called attention
to the blood-buying industry in the central province of Henan that infected
thousands of poor villagers. Blood sellers were re-injected with pooled
blood after buyers removed important components, making it possible for one
infected person to spread the AIDS virus to many others.

After denying for years that AIDS was a problem, China has begun to release
information on the disease. The health ministry said last week that China
expects one million people will be infected with the AIDS virus by the end
of this year. It said that number could reach 10 million by the end of this
decade without proper prevention measures.