Jackie Chan in Phnom Penh on Monday. (Reuters)

Phnom Penh, April 26 (Reuters): Hong Kong action movie star Jackie Chan embarked on an another unusual mission today, dropping in on AIDS and landmine victims in war-scarred Cambodia in his new role as a UN goodwill ambassador.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and UNAIDS, which coordinates UN efforts to combat HIV and AIDS, hope Chan’s huge popularity in Asia will raise awareness in a region fast becoming the new front line in humanity’s fight against the killer virus.

“I really want to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS virus and the discrimination against the victims of HIV/AIDS,” Chan said in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

With 2.6 per cent of its 13 million people affected by HIV or AIDS, Cambodia is the worst affected country in the Asia-Pacific region, according to UN estimates.

However, despite the grim statistics and the country’s lack of infrastructure after decades of conflict, including the 1970s Khmer Rouge genocide, it offers a glimmer of hope.

An all-out drive to increase condom use among the most at risk sections of society — prostitutes and single men — has managed to reverse the upwards trend of infection.

On a three-day trip to the southeast Asian country, Chan will also travel to the northern province of Siem Reap, home to the famous 800-year-old Angkor Wat temples, to visit an AIDS project run by Buddhist monks and a landmine rehabilitation centre.