China is set to gear up its AIDS intervention in the country's high-risk groups, said Chinese Vice Health Minister Wang Longde in Beijing Wednesday.

Women offering sex service, drug users, homosexuals and their partners are among those who deserve special attention, he said.

According to a regulation on HIV/AIDS prevention and control that takes effect Wednesday, governments at all levels should encourage and support related organizations and individuals "to promote AIDS intervention measures and help the high-risk groups."

Earlier official statistics show that among China's 650,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, 44.3 percent were infected through drug injection, 10.7 percent through blood transfusions and 43.6 percent through unsafe sex.

The governments should publicize and promote the use of condoms, drug therapy and a clean needled exchange, said Wang.

Non government organizations and social agencies should also be motivated to carry out health promotion and sex partner education work in homosexual entertainment venues, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2006)