President Hu Jintao shakes hands with an AIDS patient in a Beijing hospital yesterday. Hu urged governments at all levels and all of society to make concerted efforts in the battle against the killing disease.(Photo: Xinhua) 

President Hu Jintao shook hands with AIDS patients in a Beijing hospital yesterday afternoon, giving a strong push to the country's battle against the disease as a UN report warned that the virus is spreading in China from high-risk groups to the general population.
"Both the government and society will truly care about you and help you in an all-out manner. I hope you will further enhance your confidence and courage to combat and overcome the disease," Hu told the AIDS patients while shaking hands with them at Beijing You'an Hospital.
During his one-hour stay at the hospital, Hu, wearing a red silk ribbon symbolizing love and care on his chest, visited two AIDS wards and reached out to shake hands with the patients inside as soon as he entered the rooms. When he left, he shook hands with the patients again and wished them an quick recovery.
The number of people contracting the AIDS virus in China is rising, according to a report by a UN agency and the Chinese Cabinet's AIDS commission released on the eve of World AIDS Day today.
President Hu called on all members of society to show care and love for AIDS patients and eliminate any forms of discrimination against HIV carriers and AIDS patients, so that all AIDS victims can "feel the warmth of society."
He urged governments and Party committees at all levels to get fully aware of the importance and urgency of AIDS prevention and treatment in China, saying that governments at all levels should put AIDS prevention and treatment high on their work agenda and mobilize all sectors of society to fight the fatal disease.
"China has in recent years made encouraging progress in AIDS prevention and treatment. But the country is still facing a grave situation in this regard, and the Party and the whole of society need to make further efforts," Hu said.
He said governments at all levels should popularize AIDS prevention knowledge among the public, advocate a civilized and healthy lifestyle, and constantly improve citizens' awareness of AIDS prevention, so as to effectively curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.
"The government should provide medical treatment and aid for HIV carriers and AIDS patients, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and help them overcome difficulties in their lives, " he said.
Since China reported its first AIDS patient in 1985, the AIDS epidemic has been spreading swiftly in some regions and specific human groups across the country.
The number of people contracting the AIDS virus in China is rising and infections are spreading from high-risk groups such as drug users and sex workers to the general population, according to the UN report released yesterday.
The report called for stepped up measures to gather information on the spread of the virus in China and more prevention efforts.
According to statistics from China's Health Ministry, China had an estimated 840,000 HIV/AIDS cases in 2003, spread mostly through prostitution and intravenous drug use.
The UN AIDS agency says the number of infected people in China could rise to 10 million by 2020 without more urgent action.
"The transmission of HIV is still on the rise," said Dr Christian Voumard, the chairman of the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS, the co-sponsor of the report.
According to the report, "the HIV case reports indicate that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is spreading into the general population" in China.
As evidence of that, Voumard cited a higher number of women contracting the virus and a larger proportion of transmissions through sex.
Large numbers of cases have been found in the provinces of Yunnan in the southwest and Henan in central China, as well as in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, according to the report.
It said that might be due in part to more screening of commercial blood and plasma donors, as well as intravenous drug-users.
"That is a call for stepping up prevention measures," Voumard said.
Some parts of Henan have the world's highest rates of infection after an unsanitary blood-buying industry in the 1990s spread the virus among donors. Drug use is widespread in Yunnan, which borders heroin-producing areas of Southeast Asia.
The Chinese government has in recent years launched efforts to control the virus.
The latest statistics showed that China's central budget for AIDS control and prevention had soared to 390 million yuan (US$47 million) in 2003 from a mere 15 million yuan in 2001.
The increased fund was used in newly launched government projects that provide free HIV/AIDS tests for citizens, free treatment for poor HIV carriers and AIDS patients, as well as clean syringes and drug substitutes for drug addicts.