BEIJING, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao visited a number of AIDS patients and their families on Friday, a public show of solidarity in a country where HIV/AIDS sufferers still face widespread stigmatisation.

Beijing was initially slow to acknowledge the threat of the disease, but has since stepped up the fight against it, spending more on prevention programmes and implementing policies to curb discrimination.

State television showed Hu speaking with a female AIDS patient at a Beijing hospital, the shot zooming in on his hand shaking hers.

"I'm so glad you are not frightened by the disease," Hu said.

He was shown at length speaking to the family of an AIDS sufferer as well as to the hospital's staff, whom he encouraged to act responsibly and with a "humanitarian" attitude.

Hu's visit, on the eve of World AIDS Day, highlights both the progress China has made in confronting the disease and the challenges that remain.

The rate of new HIV/AIDS infections is slowing, to about 50,000 new infections this year compared with 70,000 in 2005, the government said this week. That means there will be about 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in China this year.

But the epidemic is spreading from high-risk groups like sex workers and intravenous drug users to the general population, and persistent discrimination means many sufferers are afraid to seek medical treatment, experts say. (Reporting by Niu Shuping and Jason Subler; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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