China: 436,800 infected with HIV/AIDS

, Aug 15: A total of 436,800 people were living with HIV or

in

till 2013 while 136,300 had died from the disease, health authorities have revealed.

[Read: HIV-positive passengers sue Chinese airline for refusing them on board]

Mortality for the disease dropped to 6.6 percent last year from 17.9 percent in 2005, Xinhua quoted Wu Zunyou, head of the HIV/AIDS division of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, as saying Friday.

The official said the decline in mortality was attributed to policies such as free HIV tests for all and free treatment for rural and poor urban citizens.

136,300 had died from the disease, health authorities have revealed.

Ninety-five percent of the confirmed HIV/AIDS patients are under follow-up care, Wu said, adding sex remains the major transmission channel for HIV. Nearly 91 percent of the newly reported HIV/AIDS patients in China in 2013 were infected through sexual contact.

About 21.4 percent of all new cases resulted from same-sex contact, compared with 2.5 percent in 2006, the health official added.

IANS