Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said here Wednesday in view of global and domestic rising trends, HIV prevention among men who have sex with men has been accorded high priority in the five-year HIV/AIDS strategy for Hong Kong from 2007 to 2011.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a technical consultation seminar, he said HIV cases among men who have sex with men have been rising rapidly in recent years. It constituted the main route of transmission in about 30 percent of 300 to 400 reported HIV cases each year.

"Unprotected sex is an important factor and most of them do not know their own HIV status. Globally, risks and vulnerability to HIV infections are reinforced by a lack of knowledge, denial, inadequate access to treatment as well as social pressure arising from discrimination and even criminalization of sex among men," he said.

The government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has always adopted a multi-pronged approach in the prevention and control of HIV or AIDS, including surveillance, prevention and health promotion, as well as treatment and care of people living with HIV.

"To fully engage the community, we have also set up an AIDS Trust Fund with 350 million HK dollars(45.16 million U.S. dollars) dedicated to funding various public education projects, patient support services undertaken by non-governmental organizations and academia.

"Multi-partite partnership has been and will continue to be a key component of the AIDS program in Hong Kong," Chow said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)