ENG-2011 — Page 219

Health 179

Government and NGOs. The DH's 'Red Ribbon Centre' collaborates with its community partners to enhance public awareness and prevention of HIV and to promote caring and acceptance of HIV patients. In 2011, the centre organised 24 major activities and 83 special programmes, from which some 80 892 participants benefited. The number of new HIV infected persons reported in 2011 was 438, compared with 389 in 2010.

Information on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and sexually transmitted infections is available on the following 24-hour multilingual AIDS hotlines provided by the DH:

AIDS Hotline (Cantonese, Putonghua and English)

AIDS Hotline (Tagalog, Vietnamese, Thai)

AIDS Hotline (Hindi, Indonesian, Nepali and Urdu)

2780 2211

2359 9112

2112 9980

Appointments for a counselling service and HIV antibody/rapid tests may be made on the hotline 2780 2211. In 2011, a total of 21 947 calls were made to the hotline, of which 14615 calls sought AIDS counselling from nurse counsellors. About one million condoms were distributed to promote safer sex. There are also a The Gay Men HIV Testing telephone hotline, 2117 1069, and a website, www.21171069.com, to provide information to men who have sex with men. In 2011, the Gay Men HIV Testing Hotline received a total of 263 calls for counselling and HIV antibody/rapid testing.

Organ Donation

The DH promotes organ donation in various ways together with the HA, healthcare professional bodies and voluntary organisations. It launched a Centralised Organ Donation Register (CODR) in 2008 to facilitate the general public in registering their wish to donate their organs after death. As at end 2011, there were over 90 000 registrations at the CODR.

In 2011, a 'Garden of Life' was established in Kowloon Park to give recognition to the charitable acts of organ donation. The DH also launched a dedicated page on Facebook to increase public awareness of and support for organ donation, particularly among young people.

The number of patients waiting for kidney, liver, heart and double-lung transplants stood at 1 781, 109, 20 and 17 respectively as at end 2011, whereas there were 30 liver, 59 renal, 9 heart, 1 double-lung and 238 cornea donations from the deceased in Hong Kong's public hospitals in 2011.

Smoking and Health

China is a state party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), rendering provisions of the convention to be applicable to Hong Kong. The tobacco control policy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government

Region Government aims to discourage smoking, contain the proliferation of tobacco use and protect the public from second-hand smoking to