China gets new Aids prevention program

A three-year nationwide Aids prevention and care program has been launched in China.

The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) aims to reach all 31 provinces in the country by 2010, the first ever initiative aimed across the entire country.

Yang Xusheng, director of the HIV prevention office with the RCSC, told the China Daily: "It's clear the spread of the virus, increasingly through sexual transmission, is being fuelled by a continuing lack of awareness about the disease."

The RCSC first got involved in the fight against HIV in 1994 in the province of Yuma, south west China, and aims to upscale its work across the country over the next three years.

Mr Xusheng explained the program would provide support and care to 90,000 people infected with HIV. It will also aim for the prevention of further infection and discrimation towards carries in society.

Figures released by the RCSC estimate 50,000 people were infected by the disease in 2007 and 20,000 people died of Aids.