A HIV/AIDS prevention campaign targeting women has begun in Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan Province, the China News Service reported.

An official of the Yunnan health bureau said the campaign aims to let 80 percent of the target area's women understand HIV/AIDS and know how to prevent it in one year.

Yunnan has the largest population of people living with HIV/AIDS in China. A total of 48,951 cases were reported between 2004 and 2006, with incidence among women increasing at a faster rate than men.

Women account for nearly half of all HIV/AIDS cases in the world and four million women had died of the disease.

In China, women accounted for 27.8 percent of reported HIV/AIDS cases last year. In 2000, it was 19.4 percent.

(CRIENGLISH.com July 12, 2007)