For most migrant workers, the backbone of this manufacturing and construction juggernaut, AIDS may seem remote and alien. But this situation will soon be a thing of the past.

Migrant workers and university students will be listed as two major target groups of the AIDS prevention education campaign, a senior official from the Ministry of Health told a seminar in Beijing on Saturday.

The move will give a huge boost to China's war against AIDS.

Migrant workers, many of them poorly educated, usually have little if any knowledge of this deadly infectious disease.

Mainly in their 20s and 30s, they are in a sexually active age group.

Considering the fact that many migrant workers live away from their spouses, it is obviously urgent to inform them of how to stop the spread of AIDS.

The identification of university students as a major target group for HIV/AIDS education also makes sense.

Though well educated, university students usually have had little or no sex education at middle school.

The near non-existence of sex education and their sexually active nature make students, who also tend to be more liberal in their sex lives, an at-risk group.

In the past, only intravenous drug users and prostitutes were considered at-risk or high-risk groups.

When China's first AIDS case was detected in 1985, it was thought to be something associated with "capitalist evils" or an exotic disease about which China need not worry.

According to official statistics, China now has 840,000 people infected with HIV and more than 80,000 AIDS patients.

Considering the huge population, abysmally low public awareness about HIV/AIDS and the frail public health system, China faces an uphill battle against this fatal disease.

Prevention through education has proved to be the most effective weapon to curb this deadly scourge, which, if not checked, will result in catastrophe.

Although China discovered this method a little late, which is the reason why much of society is ill informed, it has begun to change tack in recent years.

In 2003, marking World AIDS Day, Premier Wen Jiabao shook hands and chatted with AIDS patients, becoming the first top Chinese leader to do so publicly.

The government's publicity campaigns about AIDS prevention are commendable.

The decision to launch an AIDS prevention education campaign targeting migrant workers and university students shows the authorities are becoming more down-to-earth in their handling of HIV/AIDS.

It is hoped similar campaigns will soon cover the country's vast rural and remote areas, where 80 per cent of the country's HIV carriers and AIDS patients reside and where public awareness about AIDS is appallingly low.

Everyone should be made aware if AIDS is to be halted. It is society's duty a responsibility that we cannot afford to shirk.

(China Daily July 26, 2005)