The role of the World Health Organization in China is to provide support for the government's health programs, working closely with the Ministry of Health and other partners within the government, as well as with UN agencies and other organizations. Among various other programs and initiatives WHO is involved in, the HIV/STI department remains one of the largest initiatives in Beijing with the largest team. Although the overall prevalence of HIV remains low in China at .05% prevalence, rates are high among populations at greater risk. The numbers of reported HIV and AIDS cases in China are still rising and there is a growing need for increased access to treatment, care and support services. WHO supports concerted efforts in China to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS and to strengthen related services. The HIV/STI team here in WHO China is divided into 2 parts with one part focused on HIV prevention and the part focused on HIV treatment. This summer I completed a 10 week long internship under the HIV/AIDS team under the supervision of both Dr. Connie Osborne in charge of treatment and Dr. Wiwat Rojanapithayakorn in charge of prevention.

My internship experience was focused on providing support to my preceptors in their respective areas of work in both HIV prevention and treatment. This started with gaining an in-depth understanding of the HIV/STI situation in China including current incidence and prevalence rates, urban and rural demographics, stigma and discrimination of PLHIV, condom use among sex workers and IDUs, and 1 st and 2 nd line ARV treatment where in the process I developed a fact sheet on the HIV epidemic in China as well as a comprehensive background report and presentation on the current HIV situation in China to be presented at the annual WHO regional strategic planning meeting. I was also responsible for organizing a meeting of the UN technical working group on care and treatment in which I provided a summary report of the meeting's minutes and recommendations which will be used to in pursuing next steps with the Ministry of Health. The participants from this working group came from public, private, governmental, and non-governmental agencies all working on HIV/AIDS in China with a vested interest in the next steps forward regarding China's policies on early infant diagnosis. During these processes, the role of the WHO is to work with their national partners like the China CDC to outline national guidelines on Early Infant Diagnosis and Treatment

Since one of my preceptors was the founder of the 100%CUP in Thailand, I worked closely with him in understanding the challenges of successful implementation of the program in China I also worked with other WHO offices in the Western Pacific Region in updating a WHO publication titled "100% Condom Use Program: Experience from China (2001-2004)". The updated guidelines will be used to serve as a toolkit for national partners as they begin the implementation of this type of HIV/AIDS prevention intervention in their respective counties. The HIV Prevention Senior technical advisor was a graduate of the Fogarty Program through UCLA so I was also able to work closely with her in evaluating, editing, and revising a paper she was trying to publish on her research project in Anhui. This internship allowed me to not only gain experience in building up the level of technical knowledge on HIV/AIDS but it also deepened my understanding of China's policies regarding HIV prevention and treatment.

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