14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese authorities are currently deeply concerned about the potential impact that the spread of HIV/AIDS could have on the country's vast migrant work force, composed of more than 200 million people, given the fact that a variety of factors could drive the incidence of the deadly disease through the roof. If the virus gets a "foothold" in this population, then its spread will be accelerated several times-fold, as workers come in major cities from literally everywhere in the country.
Thus far, official statistics from the Health Department place the number of those infected with HIV in the country at about 0.05 percent of the total population. But seeing how China currently has shy of 1.5 billion inhabitants, this amounts to some 700,000 people currently suffering from the effects of AIDS.
Authorities say that the factors that drive up the incidence of the virus are mostly the fact that the workers are away from home, that they have extra money in their pocket, and that they seldom use condoms when visiting so-called "Red Light" districts. "You must stay away from these women and keep yourself out of trouble, especially when you are working away from home. There are many dark corners now in Beijing. There are always women coming up to you and trying to drag you away," said Liu Guilin, a construction worker in eastern Beijing.
"The epidemic is lowly prevalent in general but it is highly prevalent among specific groups such as migrant workers, and in some regions particularly remote areas and the countryside," Ministry of Health deputy director of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, Wang Weizhen, said in a statement, quoted by central media.
What further increases the risk of AIDS spiraling out of control is the fact that the people currently driving the Chinese economy upwards have very little education, and their levels of awareness on the disease are extremely low. That's why, when they find out that one of them was sick, they usually marginalize him and all contacts are broken.
Currently, Beijing authorities are developing a number of means to counteract this problem, including the shooting of awareness movies that could educate large masses of workers at once.