AIDS Deaths in China on the Rise

Up almost 9 percent over same period from 2011

AIDS killed 17,740 people in China in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 8.6 percent over the same period last year, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

Over the past 10 months, 34,157 new cases of AIDS were registered in China, according to figures provided by the ministry.

The Chinese government published these figures a few days before World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

Beijing has quadrupled its spending against AIDS from $124 million in 2007 to $530 million in 2011, an investment that was praised this year by the United Nations as making China one of the five countries contributing most to the global campaign to fight the illness.