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The HK Community Charter on AIDS
The Government and six committed companies and community organisations today (Thursday) signed the Hong Kong Community Charter on AIDS as Founder Signatories.
The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Michael Sze, signed the Charter on behalf of the Government at a launching ceremony.
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The other six Founder Signatories include: Caritas Hong Kong, The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong Catholic Board of Education, Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited, Mass Transit Railway Corporation, and Aetna International Incorporation.
The key principles of the Charter are non-discrimination in dealing with employees or potential employees and adherence to confidentiality regarding a person's HIV status.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, said she was delighted to witness the beginning of a new phase in the development of Hong Kong's AIDS education programme.
Mrs Fok said: "We now learn from hindsight that AIDS carries a hidden, yet significant, economic dimension.
"The direct costs are minimal when compared with foregone earnings - the loss of output arising from morbidity and mortality of the disease," she said.
Mrs Fok pointed out that a study estimated that AIDS would cost the Asian economy between $38 and $52 billion US dollars by the year 2000.
On the other hand, the World Health Organisation has predicted that good prevention programmes can reduce the number of new HIV infections in the year 2000 from 20 million to 10 million in the developing world.
Mrs Fok stressed: "By implementing AIDS education programmes, we hope to prevent infections from occurring, thereby saving our society from future economic loss."
She said: "By discriminating people with HIV/AIDS, we are not only being short-sighted but are placing additional economic burdens on society.