Barry and Martin's Trust

"Barry & Martin's Trust" is an English registered charity active since 1996 between England and China in Aids education, prevention and care, established in memory of the late Barry Chan. We have held workshops on Aids education, treatment and care, and sponsor an Aids workshop website: www.hivworkshop.com.

Our activities include giving an annual prize in China - Barry & Martin's Prize - for excellence in Aids education, prevention and care, supporting hospitals for HIV/AIDS treatment and care, and sponsoring Chinese doctors and nurses on training visits to England. We also support the gay (MSM) community in China. We cooperate not only with other English charities but also with a number of major groups around the world and have worked with English charities such as Voluntary Service Overseas, Save the Children, The Mary Kinross Charitable Trust and Elton John Aids Foundation as well as with the Ford and Clinton Foundations, Yale University School of Nursing, The Australian Red Cross and Medecins sans Frontieres.China has changed dramatically since we started our operations in 1996.

Most outsiders see only the glittering eastern cities of Beijing and Shanghai etc. But deeper within China there remains poverty and anxiety in the face of infections like HIV; and stigma and discrimination towards those who are suffering or at risk; and limited availability of drugs and emotional support. Our friends in China are the first to lament the gap which exists between the newly rich and those who remain poor. The government shows its concern by assigning more and more funds to maladies like HIV, but the complex organisation of Chinese society often results in negligible amounts reaching those who most need help. Large foreign institutions have the same experience, whereas our small size and our longstanding contacts ensure that our funds have maximum reach. Our reputation with the Chinese health authorities, and with the hospitals with which we work, is such that we can influence government and social attitudes in cities and towns which we visit; and a grant from the Trust is noted by local governments as a reason on its own to support a particular project.

The Trust is an independent private charity with liquid assets in excess of pounds sterling two million. Its registered number in England is 1062629. The Trust accepts donations from friends and supporters around the world.