As the World Health Organization's goodwill ambassador, Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan urged a heightened battle against the sexually transmitted disease during the 2014 National Conference on HIV/AIDS held in Beijing.

According to the First Lady of China, efforts to combat the spread of the disease and the discovery of a cure should be taken to a higher level.

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Peng said that as the WHO's goodwill ambassador for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, she would promote efforts against discrimination to those who have the disease and ensure social justice.

Care and treatment for those with HIV/AIDS will also be stepped up, Peng said during the conference.

By the end of 2013, more than 800,000 people in China had been reported to have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) resulting to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS.

The National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, however, stated that only 490,000 of the total number of people with AIDS have been detected, leaving nearly half unaware that they have the disease.

According to National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention Director Wu Zunyou, the disease struck hard at some areas in the country particularly Yunnan and Sichuan provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, where about 45 percent of the national total have been recorded.

Other AIDS victims live nearby the three critically hit areas especially in Sichuan's Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture which is just along the region's border to Yunnan.

"That's a super-high prevalence according to WHO standards, which categorize places with an HIV/AIDS prevalence of more than 1 percent as having a high HIV burden," Wu revealed adding that drug use, which have also been prevalent in the area, may lead to unsafe sex-thus more possible cases of sexually transmitted diseases that include AIDS.

According to Nobel laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi of France, treating, testing and retaining patients of the AIDS virus remain to be a major challenge in the quest to eradicate the disease.

TagsFirst Lady Peng Liyuan, AIDS, HIV, sexually transmitted disease