XINHUA

Chinese President Hu Jintao (center) joins HIV/AIDS volunteers in Beijing at a gathering on November 30, a day before the 22nd World AIDS Day.

Hu pledged to mobilize the whole of society to improve HIV/AIDS control and encouraged volunteers to be more active in reducing discrimination against people infected with the virus.

Premier Wen Jiabao also visited people with AIDS, medical workers and volunteers at a Beijing hospital on December 1.

Since China reported its first AIDS case in 1985, the world's most populous nation had by this October recorded 319,877 HIV/AIDS cases and 49,845 deaths, said the Ministry of Health. But the statistics only include cases reported by medical facilities. The ministry and UNAIDS estimate that China will have 560,000-920,000 HIV-positive people and 97,000-112,000 people with AIDS by the end of this year.