Blank Page No.19

For this weekend’s blank page we have a moderator debut from Dennis, [i made it to the moderators table, thanks Chloe] with a few old hands (!) also helping out. Thanks to Dwight, Katharina, Bob and Brett. Take it away………

Has AIDS hijacked the world health agenda?

Is the illness getting the funding it deserves, or are illnesses like TB and Malaria suffering?

Here are a few facts:
*TB kills an estimated 2 million people each year and is the leading cause of death for people with AIDS.
*At least 1 million people die from malaria each year, mostly children in Africa.
*AIDS is the world’s fourth leading cause of death.

Jimmy says thanks

Jimmy was one of Chinese guests on last night. He was touched by all your comments (you can’t access the BBC news site in China so he read them off our editor’s Blackberry.) He says: “It seems that people from other parts of the world have some misunderstandings about my country and her people, which in my opinion arises by lack of mutual understanding. I’m very glad WHYS provides the opportunity for you to talk to our country and hope that this can offer an threshold to diminish the gap between you and us. And if you want to know China better, you are welcomed to visit China to see what it is like with your own eyes.”

Talking Points August 8

Goodmorning, it’s Karnie..

Thanks to everyone who stepped in last night to moderate the blog!

As the International Aids conference in Mexico comes to an end, Red Cross representative, Dr Mukesh Kumar says that despite unprecedented financial support for the disease, this was still not good enough. He says: “We are still confounded by the fact that we’re not doing enough against the epidemic”.

Waiting to exhale

Mark writes :

A funny thing happened after last night’s WHYS , which we did from the rooftop of the Fish Nation restaurant here in Beijing. As we were leaving – at 3 in the morning local time (when even in Beijing not many people are about) – there were two men standing opposite watching us leave.