CRI听力:HIV-infected Students on the Rise in China

The latest stats show that the number of students who tested positive for HIV has increased at an alarming rate in China in recent years.

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, young people between the age of 15 and 24 made up around 15 percent of new HIV carriers and AIDS patients in China last year.

Despite the relatively small percentage, the number of HIV-positive students has risen more quickly than other age groups.

Yu Jingjin is the director of China's disease control and prevention bureau.

"In 2008 there were 482 students who tested positive for the HIV virus. That's 5.77 percent of all those infected between the ages of 15 and 24. Last year, the proportion of students rose to almost 17 percent."

At the end of last year, there were about 36-thousand young people living with the HIV virus or AIDS, 20 percent of them are students.

Sexual transmission has emerged as a major cause of new infections among students.

Males having uNPRotected sex with other males accounted for nearly 82 percent of new cases last year compared with 59 percent in 2008.

The health commission is calling on schools to include AIDS prevention education in the curriculum to help raise awareness of the disease among students.