UN says China facing Aids catastrophe

A report by the United Nations has accused the authorities in China of doing far too little to respond to the threat of Aids.

The study, from the UN Programme on Aids, warns that the country is on the verge of an epidemic of what it calls catastrophic proportions.

It estimates that, by the end of last year, up to one-and-a-half million people in China were infected with HIV , the virus which causes the disease.

That compares with five-hundred-thousand two years earlier.

The Chinese government began publicising its efforts to combat Aids last year, but the report says public awareness of the disease -- and how it's spread -- has increased only minimally. Many people in China don't know how HIV is spread, wrongly thinking it can be contracted through mosquito bites or shaking hands. The UN report blames a lack of resources and official commitment, coupled with institutional red tape and a crumbling health care system.

It says the authorities must do much more to promote safe sex, and the use of sterile needles in injections.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service