China's overall goal for AIDS prevention in the coming five years is to keep the number of HIV carriers below 1.5 million by 2010, said Health Minister Gao Qiang in Beijing Wednesday at a press conference.

AIDS prevention is an issue that may well affect China's population quality, economic development and social stability, said Gao Qiang.

"It may also render impact on the rise and fall of China," he said.

According to Gao, a good job in AIDS prevention is a must for Chinese governments at various levels.

"The governments should organize all departments and mobilize the whole society to hold back the spread of AIDS," he said.

The Chinese government will allocate 800 million yuan (US$100 million) to support AIDS prevention and treatment in 2005, said Gao. In comparison, the figure in 2002 was 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million).The money is mainly used for AIDS check, AIDS knowledge promotion, treatment of AIDS patients, and prevention among high-risk people.
 
More than 40,000 were found HIV positive out of about 2 million people in initial AIDS screenings this year in China, according to Gao. These people included paid blood donors, drug addicts and employees in entertainment sites.

China is carrying out an assessment of the country's AIDS epidemic situation together with experts from the World Health Organization and the United Nations, Gao said.

"The assessment will reflect China's AIDS situation in a more objective and accurate way," he said. "We'll publicize the results in time."

China's state-grade AIDS monitoring sites rose to 247 in late 2004, a sharp comparison with 194 at the end of 2003.

China has so far organized 2,686 working teams specially designed for AIDS prevention among high-risk people.

In its fresh efforts for nationwide promotion of AIDS knowledge, China will officially launch an education program on Dec. 1 among millions of migrant workers, said Gao.

The program is supposed to spread anti-AIDS knowledge among the migrant workers, who have formed a huge fortune-seeking force flowing between rural and urban areas.

Before this, 12 Chinese central departments carried out joint actions to publicize AIDS knowledge among farmers and students, in which 740,000 villages, 50,000 neighborhood committees, 2,100 colleges 90,000 middle schools were involved, Gao said.

Required by the State Council, China's highest governing body, government leaders at different levels should be directly in charge of AIDS prevention, he said.

"Those who try to cover up the epidemic or conduct dereliction of duties will be held liable," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)