A program to promote AIDS education among migrant workers in China, with support from the International Labor Organization, was inaugurated here on Monday. The program, called the China Workplace Education Program is a joint program of the ILO, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the China Enterprise Confederation and part of the UN program on HIV/AIDS in China.

“Our research shows that the mobile population in China needs AIDS/HIV education most. For example miners, construction workers, transportation workers, market vendors and factory workers,” said Richard Howard, chief technical advisor of UN’s ILO Beijing office AIDS/HIV Program, who has been working on AIDS prevention programs for six years. “Most migrant workers do not know how to protect themselves from HIV or to avoid HIV spreads. They may have casual sex without condom, share needles when injecting drugs and they do not get any treatment after being infected,” said Howard.

The AIDS/HIV prevention and education campaign will target the workplace in enterprises in Guangdong, Anhui and Yunnan provinces. Guangdong is the largest labor-import province with more than 23 million migrant workers in 2006, while Anhui is a major labor-export province, and the number of sexually-transmitted AIDS cases in Yunnan has increased in recent years. About 56,000 HIV-infection cases were reported in Yunnan at the end of 2007. Among the 700,000 estimated AIDS/HIV cases in China, 40.6 percent are sexually transmitted, according to a report by State Council’s AIDS Working Committee Office at the end of 2007.

“The Chinese government has recognized it’s urgent to fight against AIDS/HIV and protect the people, and we are working together with the government,” said Howard. The campaign will develop messages and services to change risky behavior among migrant workers, promote the use of voluntary counseling and testing services and ensure implementation of national and provincial policies to prevent workplace stigma and discrimination, according to Constance Thomas, director of ILO Office for China and Mongolia. China’s State Council issued a national regulation on AIDS/HIV in 2006, as well as a five-year State Action Plan on AIDS/HIV (2006-2010).

China’s trade unions of all levels, Red Cross societies, committees for the care of children and women have been working on promoting AIDS prevention knowledge and anti-discrimination education programs in the past few years. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao shook hands and had face-to-face conversation with AIDS patients at Beijing’s Ditan Hospital on Dec. 1, 2003. Wen became the first Chinese premier to visit AIDS patients.

President Hu Jintao also shook hands with AIDS patients on several occasions during his visits to hospitals. ACFTU launched the Red Ribbon Campaign in 2004 to promote anti-AIDS programs throughout the country. Xu Zhenhuan, ACFTU’s vice president, said the country’s AIDS prevention and control projects need support and joint efforts from international communities.

A UN report said an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide were living with HIV as of December 2007. About 223,500 HIV-infection cases have been reported in China by the end of 2007. “Chinese people are getting more open-minded and active in dealing with this sensitive problem. They know the best way to fight against AIDS is to educate the people to protect themselves,” said Howard.

Tags: aids cases, aids education, aids hiv, aids prevention programs, china enterprise, hiv aids, hiv education, injecting drugs, international labor organization, ministry of human resources, workplace education program

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