China on Thursday launched a television advertising campaign to promote awareness of HIV/AIDS, amid reports that heterosexual infections have become the biggest route of transmission in the country, according to dpa. The UN Development Programme and the Chang Ai Media Project said they created public service announcements, featuring stars including veteran martial arts actor Jackie Chan, to promote safe sexual practices and HIV/AIDS awareness in China. "This public awareness initiative and multi-sector partnership with government, arts, the private sector and the UN, coming together to distribute information about HIV and AIDS demonstrates a new willingness in China address these issues," UNDP China director Subinay Nandy said in a press release on the programme. "Furthermore, it shows our collective resolve against the HIV and AIDS epidemic, which is one of the most serious development challenges affecting all of us," Nandy said. Several private media firms have donated advertising slots in television programming used in shopping centres and other public places, at an estimated total cost of 1.5 million dollars in the next year, the statement said. China's health ministry last week reported a rise of about 22 per cent in confirmed HIV/AIDS infections this year and raised its estimated number of infections to 700,000. The ministry said 223,501 people had tested positive for HIV by the end of October, including 62,838 people who had already developed AIDS. It said an estimated 45 per cent of new infections were through heterosexual transmission. The ministry warned that the spread of HIV/AIDS in China "continues to be driven by high-risk behaviour within particular sub-populations". Most HIV infections are believed to be still undiagnosed because of ignorance, fear, poverty and other factors. Under pressure from the United Nations, China has become more open about HIV/AIDS issues in recent years.
