Staff at Jing'an District Youth Service Center of AIDS Prevention prepare education and anti-prejudice promotion materials on Wednesday to distribute today for World AIDS Day. Photo: Lu Yun/GT

More than 80 percent of the newly reported HIV carriers in Shanghai this year were infected via unprotected sex, just over half of whom were homosexual males, local authorities said on Wednesday, ahead of today, which marks World AIDS Day.

During the first 11 months of the year, 1,294 HIV carriers were reported, an increase of 11.5 percent from last year, 51.9 percent of whom were gay men, while an overwhelming majority of the carriers, 880 of them or 68 percent of the demographic, comprised non-local Chinese residents, according to Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau.

But, while the latest numbers bring the city's total number of HIV/AIDS patients to 1,813 people, the rate of infection for the disease has been declining in the city in recent years, Xu Jianguang, director of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

"But unprotected sex was responsible for the majority of new cases this year, with 82.5 percent of the city's newly reported HIV carriers contracting the disease from unsafe sex," he said. "Most of the new carriers were also male, accounting for 89.1 percent of those recently infected."

Xu added that a series of measures to raise awareness of AIDS has helped improve the overall situation in the city.

"Shanghai now has 45 HIV clinics that meet national standards," he said. "The centers have processed nearly 18,300 people in the past year."

A handful of HIV-positive pregnant women were among those treated in the past year, none of whom delivered infected newborns, added Xu.

The rate of infection among drug users, meanwhile, has dropped significantly with the group accounting for only 8.7 percent of this year's newly reported carriers, down 19.9 percent from last year.

Younger populations still account for the majority of carriers, with those between the ages of 25 and 34 comprising 38.4 percent of the city's HIV carriers, while another 20.8 percent of those infected are between 35 and 44.

With more treatment options available for this group, things are getting better for those infected with the disease despite the strong stigmas that continue to plague them, according to Lu Hongzhou, deputy director of Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which specializes in treatments for HIV/AIDS patients.

"The most important thing is that they get the care they need," he told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The clinics set up by the government ensure they receive qualified care, even if, at the cost of separating them from others, who are scared to be treated at the same clinics."

Lu added that the new one-stop comprehensive medical treatment plan launched for HIV/AIDS patients in January has not only improved quality of life for patients, but also eased challenges associated with finding doctors willing to treat them.