China will continue to pool together its resources from the ground up in its battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Vice-Minister of Health Wang Longde said yesterday.

Grassroots organizations have to be mobilized to the fullest extent to get AIDS under control, Wang said after receiving a UNAID award acknowledging his leadership in China's fight against the disease.

"My award owes to the government's policy to make AIDS containment a priority in China," he said.

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Another UNAID award went to Professor Zhang Beichuan with Qingdao University, China's leading scholar in the field of studies in homosexuality, for his ground-breaking work in raising HIV awareness among men who have sex with men (MSM).

Wang said: "In a sense, grassroots organizations committed to HIV/AIDS response and control are better received than the government by high-risk groups and are an indispensable force in the war against the deadly disease."

UNAIDS executive director Dr Peter Piot, on a weeklong visit to China said joint efforts of different social forces, primarily civil societies, were crucial for a successful war against AIDS.

"China might just be turning the corner on AIDS hence sustainable leadership, funds, and efforts are of great importance," Piot said.

A new "UN joint program on AIDS" has been launched to enhance coordination with the Chinese government, Piot said.

(China Daily 07/18/2007 page2)