The Associated Press; Monday, December 1, 1997, 9:19 p.m. EST

On Monday, at least, their lives were honored.

In Europe, demonstrators observed the day with candlelight marches and songs; in Asia, governments announced new education and health programs aimed at fighting their growing AIDS problem.

Thousands marched in Paris at sundown, blowing whistles and carrying placards demanding more help for victims. Rallies were also held in other French cities.

"They are dying less in France, in the rich countries, but they continue to die more and more in the poor countries," said French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner.

Kouchner announced a plan to require that French doctors report the number of patients who test positive for the AIDS virus, though the names would remain confidential. "If we knew, in epidemiological terms, the number of HIV-positive people, this would vastly help us" fight AIDS, he said.

One in every 100 sexually active people age 15 to 49 worldwide has HIV, and among those infected, only one in 10 knows it, according to UNAIDS and the World Health Organization.

Figures released last week show doctors had underestimated the size of the epidemic by 30 percent: 30 million people now are infected with HIV and 16,000 more people are infected daily. Of the 2.3 million people expected to die this year of AIDS, 460,000 are children under 15.

This year's World AIDS day emphasized the plight of HIV-infected children.

Elsewhere in Europe, 12 Athens radio stations broadcast an hourlong program on AIDS. Greek state-run television stations aired documentaries on AIDS, a Freddy Mercury concert -- the singer who died of AIDS -- and a ballet dedicated to the fight against AIDS.

In Helsinki, Finland, lawmakers lighted candles on the steps of Parliament. Some 50 artists performed a free concert in Turku, Finland's former capital on the west coast, with the proceeds going to AIDS support centers.

The World Health Organization said new HIV infections in Western Europe have dropped 10 percent.

While new drug therapies and increased education has slowed the spread of HIV in many industrialized countries, AIDS infection has accelerated in developing countries, where victims and governments cannot afford the costly treatments.

More than 90 percent of HIV-infected people live in the developing world, and the disease is spreading at an alarming rate in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the WHO's regional director for Europe said Monday.

"Eastern Europe is now in the forefront of the AIDS epidemic," Jo E. Asyall said, attributing the increase primarily to intravenous drug use.

In St. Petersburg, Russia, teen-age actors dressed as prostitutes and drug addicts, drawing laughter as they did a skit demonstrating the menace of AIDS. But the performance was followed by a serious message.

"I understand that young people are our future, but who will work with prostitutes, who will work with drug addicts, who will work with homosexuals?" AIDS activist Nikolai Panchenkov asked the audience. "No one."

Across Asia, where international health authorities say they believe the number of AIDS and HIV infections is under-reported, World AIDS Day was observed with new awareness programs from China to India.

In Bombay, demonstrators carried a wooden effigy of a snake strangling India through the streets.

China said it plans to start broadcasting anti-AIDS messages on trains.

In Tokyo, hundreds gathered in a rainswept square to sing songs and appeal for support and understanding for AIDS victims. A huge tree was set up in the square, illuminated with electric lights and covered with some 17,000 red ribbons sent in from around Japan.

However, in Thailand, economic problems prompted the government to slash funds for a program that bought condoms for prostitutes, and sharply reduced World AIDS day observances in Bangkok.

Outside Nairobi, Kenya, workers at a home for AIDS-infected children went about their usual job Monday -- trying to prolong and ease the lives of 50 largely abandoned youngsters.

"The children look at me," said program director Protus Lumiti. "If I am strong, they will be strong. But if I am brooding, they will, too."

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