It's been agreed by Chinese government departments to jointly publicize HIV/AIDS prevention among children and youngsters, said the Ministry of Health on Thursday.

 

The AIDS Prevention Committee of the State Council will release information and booklets on AIDS prevention to children and youngsters.

 

Committees of the Communist Youth League at various levels will arrange publicity activities and send young volunteers to the countryside and communities in high-prevalence regions to discuss the issue.

 

And health departments will strengthen training of staff in prevention techniques and management of potential mother-to-baby transmission of HIV.

 

Medical institutions will provide free consultation and testing to HIV-infected pregnant women and babies as well as free medication and nutritional guidance.

 

Assistance and anti-stigma publicity based on households and communities will also be promoted and help for children left by AIDS victims would be improved, according to the ministry.

 

It's estimated that 400,000 children in China are affected in some way by AIDS. They include HIV-positive children who are infected by transmission from their mothers or by blood transfusions, those orphaned by parents who died of AIDS, those with one or both parents suffering from the disease and youngsters who've been adopted after their parents died from the illness.

 

About 76,000 children who've lost one parent are under 15, according to the ministry.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)