by Maria Ng

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." - Benjamin Franklin

Dr. Steven Wang is an example of a man who constantly perseveres. He works to achieve his goal of improving the lives of children orphaned by AIDS/ HIV in central China, particularly the Henan Province. Dr. Wang has set up the China AIDS Orphan Fund in order to achieve this task.

Dr. Wang was inspired after reading a 2002 New York Times article about the plight of orphans and AIDs victims in the Henan. He felt a need to help and although it was challenging (he was going through his residency at the time), through the help of a few activists in Minneapolis, he founded the China AIDS Orphans Fund.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This disease leads to the degradation of a person’s immune system, causing the victim to become susceptible to deadly infections and tumors. AIDS has become a huge problem in the Henan Province of China. Henan is located in north central China. Home to nearly 100 million people, it is China’s most populated province.

The rapid spread of this disease may be largely attributed to the poverty found in this region of China. In the early 1990s, the citizens of Henan were offered a chance to make money by donating their blood. HIV may be passed to individuals through contact with a mucous membrane or bodily fluid infected with HIV. Due to non-sterile techniques of blood withdrawal by the use of dirty needles, AIDS spread through Henan’s population. It has been estimated that in some villages, over 40% of the adult population have AIDS.

As the adults’ condition worsens due to the disease, children are forced to stay home from school in order to take care of their parents and assume household responsibilities. When their parents die, these children are orphaned with no means of supporting themselves. All of the villagers, including relatives, ostracize the children. They are uneducated and believe that the children have AIDS since they were near their parents. However, most of these kids are healthy. They are afraid of contracting the disease themselves. However, through education, villagers can realize that their chance of contracting the disease is relatively small as long as certain precautions are taken.

The China AIDS Orphans Fund raises money to help promote education, humanitarian services, medical care and training, and foster care and orphanage programs in Henan. They provide grants to organizations that specifically work in Henan with these goals in mind. Some of their money is also spent on research and spreading awareness of the Henan situation.

The Chi Heng Foundation (CHF) is one of the NGOs that China AIDS Orphans Funds donates to. This group helps orphans by setting up educational subsidies and sponsoring vocational training to give orphans a chance at supporting themselves. They also hold psycho-social programs to help the orphans deal with the shock of watching their parents die from AIDS and to help them cope with the village ostracization. CHF also provides petty cash rewards to relatives who help care for orphaned children. This is done in hopes of keeping the children out of orphanages which may further ostracize them. CHF is dedicated to integrating orphans back into the social world.

Dr. Steven Wang is currently employed in Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as the Director of Dermatologic Surgery and Dermatology. However, he still makes time to travel and raise awareness about the Henan situation. Most recently, Dr. Steven Wang honored the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (APAMSA) at Stony Brook Medical School by opening their fundraising night with a heart wrenching speech. The Association was raising money for the China AIDS Orphan Fund by sponsoring a night of entertainment and raffles. To date, the China AIDS Orphans Fund has helped thousands of children, but there is much more still to be done.