Dear Readers

This letter serves two functions. Firstly, on behalf of the Centre, I'd like to thank you for your interest and support in the past. As you are aware, we are working hard to meet our mission of reaching women on a timely basis in order to prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus. Our mission and tasks are challenging, as evidenced by the current statistics. We have seen a narrowing of the male to female ratio of infection from 24:1 in 1990 to 2.3:1 in 1999, which means that AIDS is no longer just the "Gay Man's Disease".

In light of these figures and in recognition of the unique role women play as caregivers and as the-partner-most-often-responsible-for-contraception, the HIV Education Centre launched its Women and AIDS Project in September 1997. The Project has helped to reach more than 3,000 women, mostly housewives in their 30's and 40's, through workshops and other educational programmes provided to over 80 community groups focusing on women.

The HIV Education Centre further recognized the need to enhance our education efforts to the Hong Kong women, so we conceived the Women's Companion Newsletter, which today has a circulation of 5,000, and is distributed to Community Centres, hospitals, schools and churches. Additionally, the Centre has distributed numerous leaflets, posters and other promotional materials to help get the message across in Hong Kong.

The Centre is the only AIDS specific organization in Hong Kong that dedicates its efforts to educating women on HIV/AIDS issues. From our working experience, we have noted that many of the women we come across in our workshops are still very ignorant about the AIDS issue. Many lack a true understanding of HIV/AIDS and the knowledge to protect themselves and their families against infection. This lack of knowledge puts "no fault" women at risk of infection by the HIV/AIDS virus, because they think they are immune to this "gay man's disease". We know that there is a continuing need to educate Hong Kong women. We also believe that women can play an important role in halting the HIV epidemic as they can pass their knowledge on to their families and peers.

For the second part of our report, we need to focus on future needs. Since the inception of the Women and AIDS Project, we have received support from the AIDS Trust Fund at a level sufficient to cover salaries of two full-time staff, and the cost of running our programmes. This financial support came to an end in November 1999. For the past nine months, the Centre has relied upon income generated from fund raising events and from individual donations. We were recently granted funding to continue the project for another year, but unfortunately the Trust Fund was only able to provide a portion of our funding request. With such a large reduction in financial support, the Centre may be forced to shorten its existing services and manpower. This will have a negative impact on our ability to continue conducting the programmes and activities that have proven to be effective and successful.

To meet our goals and objectives for the year 2001, we require a minimum of two full-time staff, plus additional funding to cover project expenses. We appeal to you for your financial support and ask that you refer us to other potential donors. A special appeal form is included to make it easy for you to donate even as little as $100. If you would prefer to donate goods or in-kind services, please see our "wish list" on the attached form.

After all, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

If you have questions about anything regarding our activities or our current needs, please feel free to contact me at 2523-0531.

Sincerely
Elijah Fung
Manager