Lanzhou, capital city of northwestern China's Gansu Province, plans a 100 percent Condom Use Program at entertainment places to slow spread of the AIDS virus.

The program makes condoms compulsory for all sex workers in the city at all times and in every entertainment venue. The aim is to reduce sexually transmitted infections among high-risk people.

"Expanding condom use at entertainment places will bring sexual contact-based HIV/AIDS infections under control," said Wiwat Rojanapithayakorn, head of the HIV/AIDS team of the World Health Organization's China office.

Wang Xiaoming, deputy head of the provincial health department, said 300 HIV/AIDS cases have been recorded in Gansu, but the actual number is estimated to be 2,000. Forty percent contracted the disease through drug abuse, and 30 percent through unsafe sex.

The condom program was begun in Thailand and has since been adopted in other Asian nations, producing clear results in HIV/AIDS and sexual disease control.

A joint effort by China's Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization, the program has been implemented on a trial basis in Wuhan City of Hubei Province, Jingjiang City of Jiangsu Province, Danzhou City of Hainan Province and Lixian County of Hunan Province.

The program is also being tested in Liuzhou City of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, supported by the United Nations Population Fund and the State Population and Family Planning Commission.