Dutch Aids charity Aidsfonds has scrapped its new campaign to raise awareness of the hiv virus following complaints from patients.

The campaign used slogans such as ‘I kill 300 children a day’ and ‘I am the biggest ladykiller’, which hiv patients likened to a horror film.

‘I’ve been fighting against stimatising people with hiv for 28 years,’ said lawyer Oscar Hammerstein, who has hiv. ‘Now the Aidsfonds comes up with a criminal campaign which accuses hiv patients of killing 300 patients a year.’

The campaign said in a press release it had never intended to stigmatise aids and hiv patients.

‘The Aidsfonds chose a tough message because the current image of aids and hiv is not in line with reality,’ the fund said. ‘The campaign was aimed at generating awareness in a broad Dutch public of the need to combat hiv worldwide.’