China is taking more proactive measures to protect the younger generation from AIDS as more than 60 percent of the nation's HIV/AIDS victims are aged between 15 and 29.

One of the main measures is strengthening health education for young people, according to Hao Yang, a division director from the Ministry of Health's Disease Control Department.

More than 40,000 HIV/AIDS victims had been officially reported to the ministry from 31 provinces, regions and municipalities on the mainland by the end of last year. Government experts estimated the cumulative number of the sufferers in China could have topped 1 million as of the end of last year. The annual rate of increase has been around 30 percent in the past few years.

(People's Daily July 11, 2003)