With 1 million Chinese infected with HIV, China's health minister, Zhang Wenkang says prevention work is lagging, and he has issued an urgent call for more trained health workers, state media reported Monday. AIDS in China has entered a "critical epidemic level" and is spreading from people considered most at risk -- such as intravenous drug users and prostitutes -- to the wider population, Wenkang said. "We have no time to lose," he said. The minister's remarks, delivered at a weekend conference organized jointly with the US government, indicated increasing candor on the issue of AIDS at the central government level. Zhang said infections in China could top 10 million by 2010.

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