Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi assigned five tasks in a bid to curb the spread of AIDS across the country at a national teleconference held in Beijing Monday.

The first assignment is to train all cadres above county level at least once in one or two years, to train them to better conduct AIDS prevention work.

Wu put improving public awareness as the second task, which will not only inform people of protecting measures and AIDS legislation, but also create a friendly atmosphere towards AIDS patients.

Enhancing the supervision and testing of AIDS by establishing a surveillance network covering various groups of people; further studying AIDS treatments and encouraging condom using; and paying more attention to AIDS victims as well as orphans are the other three tasks put forward.

"To clarify the tasks will help implementation," said Wu, who warned that AIDS prevention work in China remains very challenging.

By the end of June 2005, China had officially reported 126,808 HIV carriers, including 28,789 with full-blown AIDS, according to statistics released by China's Ministry of Health.

But the actual number may go far beyond the official report, medical experts said. They estimated that there were approximately 840,000 HIV-positive, including 80,000 with AIDS, mainly in rural areas.

A working committee was established under the State Council, China's cabinet, on Feb. 26, 2004 to coordinate AIDS prevention and control work across the country. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi was appointed head of the committee.

Source: Xinhua