In its fresh efforts for nationwide promotion of AIDS knowledge, China will officially launch an education program on Dec. 1 among millions of migrant workers, said Health Minister Gao Qiang Wednesday at a press conference.

The program is supposed to spread anti-AIDS knowledge among the migrant workers, who have formed a huge fortune-seeking force flowing between rural and urban areas.

Before this, 12 Chinese central departments carried out joint actions to publicize AIDS knowledge among farmers and students, in which 740,000 villages, 50,000 neighborhood committees, 2,100 colleges 90,000 middle schools were involved, Gao said.

Required by the State Council, China's highest governing body, government leaders at different levels should be directly in charge of AIDS prevention, he said.

"Those who try to cover up the epidemic or conduct dereliction of duties will be held liable," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)