BEIJING -- Provincial publicity officials who gathered for a two-day workshop in Beijing were urged to promote more accurate and balanced HIV/AIDS reporting in their areas and not to neglect the human side of the disease.

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The workshop, which began December 25, was organized by the AIDS Prevention Committee of the State Council and the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, comes amid concerns about the rise in China's HIV/AIDS population.

Publicity officials from China's 28 municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions attended lectures by Tsinghua University professors and other government officials on current HIV/AIDS reporting and on ways to improve it, the challenges of combating HIV/AIDS as well as China's HIV/AIDS prevention policies.

"This training course for national publicity officials has broken new ground," said Dong Junshan, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. "Publicity officials at all levels should make HIV/AIDS reporting a priority and combat discrimination against AIDS sufferers. Publicity is essential in the fight against HIV/AIDS," he said.

He said good HIV/AIDS reporting should be detailed and rooted in reality. Empty cliches should be avoided at all costs. Besides accurate news reporting, "HIV/AIDS reports must be attractive and compelling for local readers -- forms like literature and movies can be used."

The course follows an earlier one in November 2005 for officials from eight provinces. According to the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the officials trained at this course will cascade the training down to the local level next year.