TOKYO AP Government officials and health advocates marked World AIDS Day on Tuesday with calls for urgent efforts to stop the galloping spread of the disease. In India which with 3 to 5 million HIV-infected people has been among the hardest hit nations hundreds of school children marched beside prostitutes in the capital to draw attention to the epidemic. Joining them was Jacqueline Lundquist wife of U.S. Ambassador Richard Celeste who wore a white t-shirt emblazoned with the familiar AIDS awareness logo of a loop of red ribbon. ``It's extraordinarily important that everyone get involved in the AIDS awareness campaign but particularly young people because this is the next generation'' she said. Activists in the African nation of Kenya distributed condoms and pamphlets on AIDS prevention in Dandora a slum in the capital Nairobi. Sande Harrison a social worker for Doctors Without Borders said the AIDS victims she helps provide with home care in Dandora ``are in a very pathetic situation. Often there are no neighbors willing to help and no relatives. I feel very helpless and it is traumatic seeing people like this every day.'' Many Kenyans believe AIDS is caused by witchcraft so they fail to take precautions against contracting the disease she said. In Japan the Health Ministry organized rallies and charity concerts in a central Tokyo square to publicize the threat of AIDS and demonstrate support with those suffering from the disease. ``It's extremely important to have an event every year to repeatedly remind people that AIDS exists'' said Dr. Yoshiki Sakurai an official of the Japanese Foundation for AIDS Prevention. Discrimination against AIDS sufferers remains powerful in Japan and the country still lags behind many Western countries in AIDS treatment facilities and education Sakurai said. In Hong Kong bars restaurants and nightclubs handed out coasters encouraging safe-sex practices. The effort was part of a three-week AIDS awareness campaign organized by the group AIDS Concern. The coasters feature pictures of a fluorescent condom on one side with a safe sex message on the reverse side. One version of the coaster reads: ``Do it safely; use a condom every time.'' Experts have warned recently that while powerful new drugs have sent AIDS deaths plunging in industrialized countries the disease continues to kill millions of people in the impoverished nations of Africa and Asia. President Clinton planned to mark AIDS day with the announcement of dlrs 10 million in emergency grants to help poorer nations care for children orphaned by AIDS. According to a new U.N. report about 33.4 million people around the world are infected with HIV the virus that causes AIDS. Two-thirds of the afflicted are in sub-Saharan Africa where 2 million people will die of the disease south of the Sahara this year four times the total for the rest of the world. Adult HIV infection rates in Botswana Namibia Swaziland and Zimbabwe are between 20 percent and 25 percent the United Nations says. About 1.7 million people in Africa and 700000 people in Asia and the Pacific are infected with HIV every year according to U.N. figures. The Cambodian government marked AIDS day with the grim announcement that 150000 people 1.3 percent of the population are infected with the AIDS virus. Officials said that 50 to 70 people contract HIV in Cambodia every day the highest HIV infection rate in Asia. The economic crisis sweeping through Southeast Asia has made it even more difficult for governments in the region to curb the spread of AIDS. On the eve of AIDS day Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa launched a plea at the United Nations for governments around the world to contribute more funds to the worldwide fight against AIDS. ``We aren't doing enough to say to governments `For goodness sake why have so much money for death and so little for life?''' Tutu said UR; js-buros-mef APW19981201.1445.txt.body.html APW19981201.1482.txt.body.html