Parades mark AIDS Day

The world's two most populous nations promised yesterday to eradicate ignorance about AIDS, a disease that was at first dismissed by many as a Western evil confined to drug users, homosexuals and prostitutes.

China, criticised for its slow initial response to HIV/AIDS, put on a public display of commitment on World AIDS Day to fighting a disease which the United Nations fears could infect 10 million Chinese by 2010.

In India, where over five million people have already been infected with HIV, the government said it would make greater efforts to promote awareness, especially in rural areas and among the young.

China's battle against the spread of HIV had been hampered by politics, but on Tuesday, President Hu Jintao shook hands with an AIDS patient and Premier Wen Jiabao called for "unremitting efforts" against the epidemic.

Across the world, activists and governments were due to mark the day with events drawing attention to the disease and promoting its eradication.

India is putting on four special trains that will criss-cross the country, spreading awareness mostly in rural areas, said S.Y. Quraishi, head of India's National Aids Control Organisation.

"This is a youth problem because they are sexually most active and only they can solve this problem," he added.

The finger in Cambodia, where the disease is thought to be spreading in rural areas, was pointed at straying husbands spreading AIDS among women and girls, now the most vulnerable group and the theme of this year's AIDS Day.

In the tiny Pacific state of Papua New Guinea, where rape and multiple wives are common, estimates put the number of likely cases between one million and 1.5 million by 2015-2020 from 67,000, potentially wiping out a generation and destroying the economy.

In Thailand, a mass public awareness campaign in the 1990s has been credited with dramatically reducing the number of new HIV infections. Youngsters there paraded through shopping centres dressed as condoms to distribute condoms to teenagers.

But in neighbouring Vietnam, where there are an estimated 85,000 HIV cases, Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien said stigma remained and in conservative Singapore activists said antiquated laws were hurting the fight against AIDS.

"Since gay sex is illegal, how then can any agency or organisation in Singapore promote safe sex among men... without being complicit in abetting illegal activity?" said Stuart Koe, chief executive officer of Asian gay group, Fridae.com.

Those stigmas are also keeping people from getting tested, meaning the real numbers of those infected remain unknown.