Chinese basketball star Yao Ming and actor Pu Cunxin have given their names to a campaign to combat stigma¹ against HIV/AIDS in China, the United Nations, which launched the programme, said on Wednesday.

Yao, the 7ft-6in (2.29m) centre for the Houston Rockets, and Pu, who starred in the movies "Shower" and "Spicy² Love Soup", will be pictured on posters to be distributed throughout China.

"We trust this campaign will help disseminate³ our common stand for positive action, care and full integration⁴ of people living with HIV and AIDS in our global society," UNDP China official Alessandra Tisot said in a statement.

China has an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV or AIDS and experts say the disease is moving into the general population and spreading ever faster, with the fight against the virus hampered⁵ by widespread discrimination and ignorance.

The poster campaign, which includes the slogan "HIV/AIDS will not affect our friendship", aims to promote inclusion of those with HIV in their workplaces, schools and families.

The posters will be printed in Chinese, Tibetan, Uighur and Jingbo, a language used in the southwestern province of Yunnan, which is among the provinces with the greatest prevalence of the disease