China unveiled Saturday a five-year anti-AIDS education project aimed at providing better sex and AIDS prevention education to 100 million middle school and college students.

The project, co-organized by China Charity Federation and the Chinese Society of Education, will raise 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million) to fund sex education and AIDS prevention activities in 10,000 schools all over the country, and to aid children infected with HIV or orphaned by AIDS.

Xu Jialu, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said the topics of healthy sex and AIDS prevention are closely linked. But in traditional China, people were reluctant to talk to young people about sex.

"It's good that the project attaches equal importance to the two subjects," Xu said.

Xu said that he hoped that society as a whole will pay attention to and contribute to the project.

China's Ministry of Health said that the number of people with HIV has risen 27.5 percent since the beginning of this year. By the end of October, a total of 183,733 people were officially reported as HIV carriers, 39,644 more than at the end of 2005.

According to estimates by the Chinese Ministry of Health, the WHO and UNAIDS, China has about 650,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, including 75,000 who have developed AIDS.

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2006)