Based on data released on Thursday, Wang Guoqiang, vice head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, informed the media that about 104,000 new HIV/AIDS infections were recorded throughout China in 2014.
Even though last year's total is an increase of 14.8 percent in comparison to 2013, Wang said that the overall infection rates and the tally for HIV/AIDS cases remained at low levels.
According to the commission's results, sexual intercourse was the primary form of transmission during the 12-month period. While significant gaps in the country's sexual education efforts have been identified as a key underpinning issue for the proliferation of the disease, health experts have acknowledged that some progress has been made in the awareness-raising realm.
However, health officials around the world continue to implore China to intensify its efforts to stop HIV from spreading further among the population. Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in China, Bernhard Schwartlaender, said in 2014 that "there is much more China needs to do."
In addition to the improvement in its education work, the Chinese government also further supported HIV/AIDS patients in 2014 by boosting anti-viral treatment. The boost represented a 21-percent increase in comparison to the previous year.
Chinese health officials previously reported that almost 500,000 Chinese individuals are living with AIDS or HIV.
Also, The Wall Street Journal provided a U.S. comparison on Thursday so that its readers could attain some kind of perspective: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected data that shows that approximately 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV.