A senior official of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is urging China to stress HIV/ AIDS prevention among youths, according to today's China Daily.

Edwin Joseph Judd, UNICEF area representative for China and Mongolia, praised China for its efforts in a UNICEF-backed Mekong sub-regional HIV/AIDS prevention and control project established in southwest China's Yunnan Province, focusing on providing young people with accurate information about HIV/AIDS.

However, that efforts to inform people, especially youths, about HIV/AIDS must be pursued "with far greater energy," Judd said.

In China, 18,143 HIV infections were reported as of the end of last March. They included 670 full-blown AIDS cases.

According to Shen Jie, a division chief of the Disease Control Department of the Ministry of Health, there may be more than 500, 000 HIV infections in the country.

Nearly 80 percent of the HIV carriers in China are 20 to 40 years old and nearly 10 percent are under 19, UNICEF sources said.

　　(From China Internet Information Centre)