President Hu tells HIV carriers, communities not to be daunted by disease

Fighting HIV concerns "leadership" which was in line with the theme of this year's World AIDS Day that calls for "leadership", Schwartlander said.

Subinay Nandy said there were still some "inconsistencies" in China between regulations and "divergences", between national and provincial laws, and between laws and its application, "especially at local and community level".

But Nandy was "proud of China's efforts" made in the field of policy-making and legislation to prevent AIDS discrimination, such as the regulation on AIDS prevention and treatment, promulgated by the State council last year, and the national action plan (2006-2010) for AIDS containment, prevention and care.

The Ministry of Finance announced Friday that 860 million yuan (114 million U.S. dollars) would be allocated from the central budget for AIDS prevention and control.

Statistics show Chinese government has allocated 3.81 billion yuan (508 million dollars) since 2003 to combat AIDS.

Editor:Liu Fang