Being uninformed on AIDS is as dangerous as being misinformed.

Of the 73 HIV carriers reported until September in the county of Chongyang, Central China's Hubei province, 72 are migrant laborers. And, 59 were infected while working as migrant laborers in urban areas. Apart from three who got the virus by drug abuse and from blood transfusion, 70 got it through sex.

The message is that migrant workers are highly vulnerable to the virus. What is noteworthy is that they were infected because of ignorance of the disease.

They are doing odd jobs in urban areas and usually stay alone, leaving their wives back at home. With no regular paid holidays for family reunion most of the time, some visit prostitutes. Which has increased their chances of getting infected.

The investigation in this county is an indicator that education about AIDS is a matter of great urgency among rural workers. They need to be told how seriously AIDS can harm their health and how they can effectively protect themselves from infection.

But that is far from enough to solve the problem for them. Much more needs to be done to protect their legitimate rights: the right to enjoy regular paid holidays as their urban counterparts, which enables them to have family reunions with their wives; the right to desirable living conditions, which makes it possible for their wives to visit them.

When the people-first concept was promoted as a policy priority, needs of rural laborers who contribute to the country's economic growth and social progress should not be left out.

More than 200 million rural laborers, many of whom have almost permanently been working in urban areas, have turned out to be an important social sector. Their deputies being elected into the National People's Congress and local people's congresses in recent years points to the reality that enough attention to their rights and benefits have become an important benchmark of progress in social advancement. This area has long been ignored.

We cannot afford to allow AIDS to become rampant among rural laborers. Once a worker is infected with the virus, a family will be driven to destitution. Which will certainly become a burden on social welfare that a local government provides. Then an individual's tragedy turns out to be a social problem.

Therefore, similar investigation is needed among rural migrant workers in urban areas on a national basis. Then it should be followed by a campaign to publicize knowledge of AIDS among them, and then do whatever we can to help them keep away from the virus.

(China Daily 11/03/2009 page9)