Chinese students in 82 percent of the newly reported HIV/AIDS cases involving students in 2017 had the virus through same-sex activities, continuing to increase since 2012, according to a senior health official on Wednesday.

The number of new HIV cases in those between 15 and 24 years old in China increased from 12,819 in 2012 to 19,384 in 2017, Han Mengjie, a senior official of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Wednesday at a satellite forum of the 5th National Conference on HIV/AIDS in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Han said most newly reported cases involved male college students aged between 18 and 22.

Chinese universities introduced HIV/AIDS prevention education in 2015, and a pilot project on HIV/AIDS prevention was adopted in 94 universities in 2016. Some universities also introduced anonymous urine tests for students.

However, some health experts said that the HIV/AIDS prevention education should include junior high-school students. Read more via Global Times