Wang Xiaodong, a 35-year-old gay man in Southwest China¡¯s Sichuan Province, has spent 6,000 hours over the past three years volunteering in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Wang, the director of a 100-member health group in Chengdu, said many gay Chinese men have to hide their sexual orientation from their families, and would despair if they caught HIV.

¡°It is difficult to make those men come out of the closet and there is still a long way to go in ensuring HIV/AIDS safety for them,¡± Wang told reporter.

In December 2004, the Ministry of Health estimated for the first time the number of Chinese homosexuals as being between 5 and 10 million. The government has since clearly stated its stance on homosexuality.

At the end of last year, the ministry and the World Health Organization released a joint report which said the HIV infection rate among the general population was 0.05 percent and the rate among gay men was as high as 2 percent.

Facing this threat, homosexuals have begun to go public and actively cooperate with government efforts to combat the disease.

Striving to prevent HIV/AIDS, Wang and experts with the China Disease Prevention and Control Center jointly compiled and published a book on AIDS prevention for at-risk individuals.

A poll by the volunteer team shows that only 44 percent of gay men used condoms at the end of 2005 and now the figure is 72 percent.