UNICEF has launched its Chinese-language website, bringing information about HIV/AIDS prevention, girls' education, avian flu, child protection and other related issues to more than 140 million Chinese Internet users around the world.

"It is important for us to reach out to the fastest growing group of internet users to help them understand the challenges facing children," said Stephen Cassidy, UNICEF's Chief of Internet, Broadcast and Image section.

In addition to information about UNICEF programs in China, the web site also grants users access to video reports, press materials and news stories from around the globe.

The new Chinese-language global website is found at www.unicef.org/chinese. This should not be confused with the UNICEF China country website, launched in May 2005, which can be found at www.unicef.org/china.

The launch of the web site is particularly timely given the rapid increase in the number of Chinese-speaking Internet users. Over the past years usage rates have quadrupled, and UNICEF says Chinese-speaking Internet users now make up more than 13% of the world's one billion Internet users.

The debut of the Chinese web site marks the fifth in a series of UNICEF global language web sites, joining Arabic, English, French and Spanish. There are well over 120 million internet users in China alone, where UNICEF continues to run programs to fight infant and maternal mortality, under-nutrition and HIV/AIDS as well as programmes protecting street children, migrant children and those from ethnic minority groups.