By Ek Madra
Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Reuters) -- Hong Kong action movie star Jackie Chan embarked on a another unusual mission on Monday, dropping in on AIDS and land mine victims in war-scarred Cambodia in his new role as a U.N. goodwill ambassador.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNAIDS, which coordinates U.N. efforts to combat HIV and AIDS, hope Chan's huge popularity in Asia will raise awareness in a region fast becoming the new front line in humanity's fight against the killer virus.
"I really want to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS virus and the discrimination against the victims of HIV/AIDS," Chan told a news conference in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
With 2.6 percent of its 13 million people affected by HIV or AIDS, Cambodia is the worst affected country in the Asia-Pacific region, according to U.N. estimates.
However, despite the grim statistics and the country's lack of infrastructure after decades of conflict, including the 1970s Khmer Rouge genocide, it offers a glimmer of hope.
An all-out drive to increase condom use among the most at risk sections of society -- prostitutes and single men -- has managed to reverse the upwards trend of infection.
On a three-day trip to the southeast Asian country, Chan will also travel to the northern province of Siem Reap, home to the famed 800-year-old Angkor Wat temples, to visit an AIDS project run by Buddhist monks and a land mine rehabilitation center.
"We really need to protect children affected by land mines," the actor, know in Cambodia as "Chhin Long," told reporters.
There are an estimated 45,000 amputees in Cambodia, most of them victims of land mines or left-over ordnance.
Chan said he was "very touched" by the efforts of all those working at the sharp end of HIV/AIDS and land mine rehabilitation.
"Let me know whatever I can do," the actor said. "Wherever I can go, I promise you, I'll do it,."
Chan, whose blockbuster movies included 'Rumble in the Bronx' and 'The Medallion', rose to fame from a humble family in Hong Kong where he trained as a child stuntman in classical Chinese opera.
Fighting his way to film stardom in first Hong Kong and later Hollywood, his high kicks and kung fu antics have wowed millions across the globe.
----------------
COPYRIGHT: (c) Reuters 2003. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.