The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) and the Taiwan Love and Hope Association co-hosted the premier of a documentary film, “The Hope of Love ”, which is about the parents of HIV infection cases. The objective of this event is to encourage the public to use “3H” (home, heart, and hand) and promote ways to prevent HIV/AIDS, including making home a safe shelter for HIV/AIDS cases and improving teenagers’ awareness of safe sex. Taiwan CDC appeals to the public not to discriminate against HIV-infected individuals and to provide those individuals a comfortable and friendly social environment.

The film, “The Hope of Love”, is the first time parents of HIV/AIDS cases in Asia speak out publicly about their true feelings toward their children. The mother in the film named Dai Mom could not accept at all that her son was suffering from HIV until she joined the workshop for the parents of HIV/AIDS cases. Dai Mom discovered many AIDS-affected families are facing the same problem. Thus, Dai Mom turned her sorrow into the desire to help AIDS-affected individuals in a more positive way. Dai Mom said on the screen that she realized that if she were to give up on her own son, no one in the society would give him any support. Hence, she realized she must not give up on her son. Thus, with her care and support, the almost broken relationship between her child and her was recovered. According to Dai Mom’s experience, the parents of HIV cases are normally under a lot of pressure and mostly helpless. Dai Mom said that the most important things for the parents to do are to take care of and support their children, to encourage the children to adhere to medical treatment and not to merely condemn their children’s fault.

Members of the Taiwan Love and Hope Association pointed out that most AIDS-affected individuals tend to cope with their illness on their own as it is embarrassed to announce their illness publicly. As a result, the parents were almost always unaware of the situation until the situation turned bad. Therefore, the parents should care for their children more actively and provide a safe shelter for them. The President of the Taiwan Love and Hope Association, Pan Shung-Mei stated that it is important that the parents always stand by their children and take care of them as they grow up. The Secretary- General of the Association, Ko Nai-Ying, also expressed that this film is intended to wish the best to all HIV infection cases as the title of the film suggested and to remind all parents not to ignore their own children.

The Deputy Director of Taiwan CDC, Shih Wen-Yi, said that the number of HIV infection aged 15-24 in 2010 increased by 13.3% from that in 2009. It is important for everyone to note that HIV cases are getting younger recently. Nevertheless, our society is becoming more friendly toward AIDS-affected individuals, which is a good thing for a healthy society. The best way of prevent HIV/AIDS is to offer patients medical treatment and support from the family and society, he added.