Chinese PM pledges to fight against HIV/AIDS

Beijing: Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has pledged more initiatives to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in order to limit its spread, a media report said on Tuesday.

The total number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China has hit 575,000 -- and 177,000 have succumbed to it so far, official data released on Monday said.

Six out of every 10,000 people in China may be infected with HIV/AIDS

"We need to guarantee spending on prevention and treatment, especially in the worst-hit regions and poverty-stricken areas in the centre and west of China," the China Daily quoted the prime minister as saying.

He said social organisations should be brought more into play and called for faster development of anti-AIDS drugs, while stressing that health insurance needs to be put in place to reduce the burden for those most in need.

The premier also said that an action plan for AIDS prevention and treatment for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) must be formulated as soon as possible,

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention described the situation in China as a mild pandemic, adding men who have sex with men were amongst the highest infection rate.

Infections among young people have become particularly noticeable as 2,662 new cases of students living with HIV/AIDS were reported from January to October, a surge of 27.8 percent year on year.

Some 97,000 new cases in total were reported in the period.