URUMQI, Feb. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has announced it is building 44 new needle exchange centers this year, in an effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among drug users.

    The centers will be located in 15 subdistricts of the boroughs of Tianshan, Saybaq, and Toutunhe, said an official with the Municipal Health Bureau.

    Xinjiang has been hard hit by the epidemic, with the reported cases of HIV/ AIDS infections totaling 11,303 by the end of last September. Urumqi was home to around 40 percent of the infections,yet the infections there were still on rise.

    Officials attributed the rapid rise of HIV/AIDS infections in Urumqi mostly to intravenous drug use with shared needles.

    The needle exchange program, part of a Sino-Australia AIDS Prevention Project, was first initiated in Shuimogou district of Urumqi in November 2004. To date, the needle exchange centers there have distributed 17,000 clean needles and retracted 98.6 percent of second-hand needles. Enditem