Executive Vice Health Minister Gao Qiang said last month that the country was falling short in its fight against AIDS."China is still faced with arduous tasks," he said.

　　Gao promised that 5,000 poor HIV and AIDS patients would receive free treatment starting this year. Health officials say this number will rise to 40,000 by 2008.

　　The World Health Organization estimates 120,000 people in China need treatment now and is including the country in its global drive to provide AIDS drugs to 3 million people by 2005.

　　According to a government report, import duties were cut and local production is encouraged to bring down the price of HIV medications.

　　Last year, China exempted HIV drugs from import duties.

　　The production of locally made HIV drugs might reduce the medicine costs per Chinese AIDS patient to 3,500 yuan (US) or 4,000 yuan (US) per year, the report said.

　　But it's not just about handing out drugs.

　　China still doesn't have enough testing facilities or provide enough counseling to AIDS patients, especially in its vast countryside, said Henk Bekedam, the WHO's representative in China.

　　The fear is that without counseling and education, isolated peasants may drop out of AIDS treatment programs.

　　"This is a universal problem, not a Chinese problem," said Paolo Teixeira, director of the HIV and AIDS unit at WHO headquarters in Geneva. But, "you cannot expect to have all the conditions, all the drugs to start treatment."

　　While HIV in China is mostly confined to intravenous drug users and people infected by using the tainted blood, the country's tens of millions of migrant workers could prove "the next wave," said Siri Tellier, chairwoman of the UN Themesgroupson HIV/AIDS in China.

　　According to the government report, the proportion of sexually transmitted HIV infections increased from 5.5 percent in 1997 to 10.9 percent by the end of 2002.

　　At a Shanghai campus, students still appeared to be embarrassed when receiving condoms yesterday.

　　Most students blushed when they realized a free condom was attached to the brochure passed to them.

　　A passing girl frowned and then quickly sneaked away to drop the blue plastic bag in a nearby garbage can.

　　Many students said they took the brochures without knowing what it was at first.

　　Some gave the condoms back with a blush, saying "I don't need that."

　　"We can understand it is necessary, but students are just not brave enough to face condoms openly, " said a student surnamed Zhao.

　　"We hesitated at first," said Zhao Xin, an official at Jiao Tong University, pointing out that this is the first time condoms have been distributed openly on campus.

　　Compared with merely giving out publicity materials, offering condoms is a more lively way to help students form a mature attitude toward AIDS and sex, Zhao said.

　　"It is not only a breakthrough but a progress as well, meaning the school is more open and civilized," he stressed.