Maria Teresa Attends Opening Of Chinese AIDS Camp

Luxembourg’s Grand Duchess took time away from the Beijing Olympics to go to the official opening of the 5th annual summer camp for children with AIDS/HIV.

Maria Teresa is the Eminent Advocate for Children for charity UNICEF and was honoured to be present at the opening ceremony of the annual camp, which was held in Beijing’s Great Palace of the People. The Grand Duchess’ daughter, Princess Alexandra accompanied her mother to the ceremony.

After meeting some of the one hundred children present, Maria Teresa praised the camp and its leader Lou Yin for providing a fun environment for the children – many of who have lost their parents to HIV and AIDS – to live in during the summer. Grand-Duchess Maria Teresa applauded the Chinese efforts. “Deeds speak stronger than words”, she said.

The Grand Duchess urged people to continue their work to end discrimination against children suffering from the disease.

The children, more than 100 of them, will spend one week in the Chinese capital, where they will watch some of the sport events, and where they will be accompanied by over 200 volunteers.

According to UNICEF, China – which has a population of 1.3 billion people – has an HIV prevalence rate of 0.1 percent.