YINING, Xinjiang, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The town of Kardun is dotted with low brick housing compounds. Shady narrow lanes wind between them. A small tombstone workshop displays its crafts at the town's entrance. Dozens of children happily toboggan down the road by the workshop.

But all is not well in this town of 18,000 people that has almost been swallowed by the sprawling city of Yining far to the west of China's northwestern frontier, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Interveinous drug use is ravaging Kardun's youth. Not only are they wasted on drugs but 800 residents -- mostly young men - have tested HIV positive.

Alimujan is typical of Kardun's youth. He dropped out of school at 16 and he is now 24, when he should be supporting his parent and a family of his own, he's a drug addict and an AIDS patient.

His mother, Ayishamu, is desperate for help. Watching helplessly as her son struggles with addiction and now the physical pain of his illness have aged her. She's 45 but looks 60."I cry almost every day. I don't know why such a thing has happened to us. I try to do everything to help him stay healthy."

The son's addiction and illness has forced her to sell the family's small grocery store, her jewelry and one of the family's two houses.

The entire family now lives on a government subsidy of 260 yuan (32.5 U.S. dollars) a month.

Seventeen HIV-positives every day

The family's sad story is shared by many in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which lies on a trade route for illicit drugs that starts in the rich poppy fields in the so-called "Golden Crescent" area in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This year alone, police here have seized 35 kilos of heroin and 33 kilos of opium.

With a population of around 20 million, Xinjiang has an estimated 60,000 people living with HIV and about a tenth of the country's AIDS cases.

The officially reported number of cases hit 17,000 infections by the end of Sept. this year, jumping more than 50 percent over the same period last year.

Every day, nearly 17 people contract the deadly virus.

Most of the infected people are in their prime of life and almost all are infected by dirty needles.

The drugs and illness have become many families' worst nightmare, taking an economic and psychological toll that will likely sink them for a generation.

"The family burden falls to parents and even grandparents, who don't have the financial resources to cope with," said Zhao Qi, a health official with the China office of Save the Children, a UK-based non-governmental organization working for child welfare.

Zhao says the physical pains are accompanied by as much mental anguish as the stigma of AIDS isolates whole families from their communities.

Again Alimujan's situation is typical as his mother insists on keeping the family's tragedy secret. "I'm afraid people won't accept us if they know my son has AIDS," she said.

Create an understanding environment

The Xinjiang autonomous regional government is putting up a fight against the public health crisis. In 15 cities and prefectures and a dozen places It has opened needle exchange programs and methadone clinics in a variety of community outreach programs established in recent years.

Alimujan has been treated with methadone to overcome his drug addiction and now he is receiving free antiretroviral treatment inYining city's largest hospital.

To combat prejudice against HIV-positives and their families, community members are offered free training programs that teach them how to keep themselves safe while respecting those who suffer from HIV/AIDS.

Ayishamu also has a ray of hope for her nine-year-old son Myerdan who now has a safe place to play and learn. A neighborhood children's activity center supported by the SC and the local government is teaching him about the harms of drug taking and raising his awareness of AIDS.

In the single-storey white brick house center, the wall is ablaze with children's paintings about their life, which almost share the same theme: AIDS. Myerdan's painting shows a needle being burned in flames.

"I hope my brother will get better," said he boy who dreams of becoming a police officer to "catch all the bad guys selling drugs".

What Myerdan has learnt comforts Ayishamu. "I was worried that the little boy might take drugs like his elder brother. Now, at least, one is safe from drugs."

Around the country, central and local governments are working hard to lift more mothers and their families out of plight caused by drugs and the killer virus.

More than 300 methadone clinics have been opened in two thirds of China's 31 provincial regions and the central government plans to expand the network to all its cities and counties which have over 500 registered drug users by the end of 2007.

About 300 new free needle exchange centers will be opened by the end of this year, adding to last year's 91.

Official estimates claim that 44 percent of an estimated 650,000 Chinese people living with HIV/AIDS are drug users.

Funds on HIV/AIDS prevention and control were more than doubled to 1.08 billion yuan (136.5 million U.S. dollars) in 2005 from 490 million yuan (61.9 million U.S. dollars) in 2003.

The moves are aimed to stop HIV infection being transferred from high-risk drug users to the general population and keep more families away from AIDS.

By Fan Xi