Healthcare workers provide free HIV/AIDS consulting and screening services in Liaocheng, Shandong province, on Tuesday. The event was aimed at improving public health awareness and helping residents live healthy lifestyles. SHI KUIHUA/FOR CHINA DAILY

Tuesday marks the 33rd World AIDS Day. Although the novel coronavirus might appear to be the most pressing public health challenge, the threat the human immunodeficiency virus poses to humans has never eased since the virus first appeared.

About 1.7 million people were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus last year, and 690,000 people died of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Among the 38 million people infected with the virus worldwide more than 12.6 million have no access to treatment, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Although China is not one of the worst-hit countries, AIDS still claimed nearly 21,000 lives in the country last year.

Notably, apart from students aged between 15 and 24 being a high-risk group, as they are in many other countries, China has seen a dramatic rise in infections among men over the age of 60. The number of infections among this group has risen from 8,391 in 2012 to 24,465 in 2018, with sexual transmission as the main channel, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. And there are no signs that this trend has eased over the past two years.

That being said, it is urgent for the public health departments and social organizations to pay special attention to raising the awareness among the two groups about the risks and promote safe sex, and recommend early diagnosis and early treatment so as to cut the transmission chains.

That many elderly people are infected with the virus without knowing it also deserves the public's attention, as people's understanding of the virus and the disease remain vague.

Only after the people have better awareness of HIV/AIDS will they take the initiative to protect themselves.

More attention should be diverted from calling on the people not to discriminate against those with the virus to preventing people from becoming infected in the first place.

As China's experience of taming the novel coronavirus indicates, HIV transmission prevention and control measures should be normalized and have the support of the whole society. Action needs to be taken at the grassroots level, rather than being showcase campaigns during the annual World AIDS Day.