On Sept. 17, 210 volunteers in northern China's Shanxi province participated in an AIDS Walk fundraiser, collecting money for HIV-positive people suffering from economic hardships, chinanews.com reported. A total of 40,000 yuan ($5,996) was raised through the event.

The volunteers carried a 300-meter-long red ribbon along a trail in Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi province. They also spoke about AIDS prevention to passersby.

An employee of the Netherlands Embassy in China came all the way from Beijing to participate in the event, and he expressed his hope for increased public understanding of AIDS through such campaigns. Volunteers publicized accurate information about the disease and advocated for the end of discrimination against HIV-infected people.

Li Xiang, a volunteer from a local non-governmental organization, initiated the event in 2014 after he tried but failed to protect an AIDS patient from severe discrimination. Compared with the events held in 2014 and 2015, this year's Shanxi AIDS Walk saw an increase in participants from 37 to 210.

According to Li, all the money raised will be used for the medical treatment and care of AIDS patients in Shanxi, and all spending will be made public. Currently, AIDS Walk fundraisers are being carried out in more than 100 cities around the world each year.