Because World Aids Day happens only once every 365 days, our fifth and final post on the subject today is a roundup of news reports from other media outlets:

• Xinhua has an intriguing report on the 72 year old Dr Gui Xien, who was one of the first medical practitioners to blow the whistle on Hubei province's AIDS village, Shangcai, in 1999. Early on in the epidemic, Dr Gui was driven out from village to village by local Hubei authorities. Today, he is a VIP.
• Meanwhile, another even more famous whistle-blower, the indefatigable award-winning 82 year old activist Dr Gao Yaojie (高耀潔), has finally fled to the safety of the United States, after many years of harrassment and imprisonment. She will be meeting with top US officials today in Washington to address the AIDS situation in China. Gao has just published a new book which makes public the 10,000 letters she received from HIV/AIDS patients over the years.
• China Daily reports on the plight of a 27 year old HIV-positive counsellor with an AIDS programme who has decided to call it a day with his work there because the ¥1,500 stipend he gets per month does not help him survive in Beijing.
• Xinhua makes a bold prophecy — gay groups in China are set to flourish in spite of the grim AIDS situation. Is this indicative, we wonder, of greater willingness on the part of government officials to give more space to the NGOs to do their work unhindered?
• UNAIDS says in a new report that drug abuse is no longer the leading cause of new HIV infections in China. Heterosexual contact is now the fastest contributing factor for the spread, followed by homosexual contact.
• Reuters' Royston Chan visits Anhui province's Fuyang city and finds that HIV-infected children are still struggling with the heavy stigma that surrounds the disease.
• In a sign that the top echelons of the Chinese government are paying attention to the AIDS situation, President Hu Jintao has visited activities ahead of World Aids Day for the fourth time in six years, and pledged more government action in the fight against Aids.
• China Daily reports that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) committed to fighting HIV/AIDS in China will soon receive the legal status to operate, as the government is finally coming around to considering legally recognizing these organizations. Yes, shocking as it may be, all those AIDS NGOs that you've seen operating in China over the last few years have all been doing their work illegally.
• For more on what's happening around the world this World Aids Day, refer to this report by Gays.com