A total of 260 migrant workers attended a lecture on AIDS prevention in Beijing Thursday, marking the official start of a program to impart knowledge on AIDS to migrant workers in the nation's capital.

This is the first time that Beijing publicizes AIDS knowledge among migrant workers, whose number stands at about 3.6 million in Beijing, according to the organizer of the event.

The newly-registered number of AIDS patients is increasing by 4 million around the world annually, said Liu Xiuping, an official with the China Association of Family Planning, at the start-up ceremony in Chaoyang District on Thursday.

Liu said the current program is aimed at educating migrant workers to become more aware of the disease.

The program will cover about 20,000 migrant workers at 26 construction sites in Chaoyang District, 80 percent of whom are aged between 25-35 and have a comparatively lower educational level, Liu said.

"Such a program is important to us," said Shen Junliang, a migrant worker from southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Migrant workers in Beijing are expected to have handbooks on AIDS knowledge and condoms provided to them by concerned government departments early next year.

The program is funded by the anti-AIDS work committee of the State Council and organized by the China Association of Family Planning.

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2005)