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Updated: 2007-06-04 11:12

China has 120 million migrant workers who leave their rural hometowns to look for work in cities - mostly young men with a poor education.

Lacking knowledge about HIV/AIDS protection, the migrant population is ranked among the most vulnerable group for HIV and tuberculosis (TB) infection in metropolitan areas.

Statistics from the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau show that about 80 percent of the capital city's new HIV cases in 2006 were in the migrant population.

The at-risk group is now the target of a new initiative to raise awareness about prevention of HIV infection, as well as that from TB and malaria.

The educational campaign is organized by the Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, a worldwide alliance of 220 multinational companies.

"Because most migrant workers are young, sexually active and separated from their spouses for most of the year, they may engage in risky unprotected behavior," Michael Shiu, director of GBC China said.

"The fact that many are unaware of the risks makes them particularly vulnerable to infectious disease," says Shiu.

It is estimated that there are four million migrant workers in Beijing alone.

Migrant workers usually find employment as manual laborers in construction, manufacturing or in the service industry. Once settling in cities, these young men often work long hours for low wages.

They seldom see their families, because traveling home is both expensive and time consuming.

"Raising awareness among this group is essential to preventing AIDS from spreading in China," says Shiu.

Playing cards, particularly popular among migrant workers in leisure time, now serve as a messenger to disseminate precautions about HIV, TB and malaria.

The US-based non-governmental organization (NGO) distributed some 400,000 packs of playing cards to migrant workers at the Beijing train station and construction sites last month.

Each of the deck's 54 cards is imprinted with a different HIV, TB or malaria message.

"We will evaluate the effectiveness of this program for possible future expansion to cover more cities and more migrant workers," Shiu said at a recent ceremony to announce the campaign.

"If the effort proves to be successful at reducing the rate of infection, we plan to expand the program to produce 20 million decks of playing cards, which will enable us to cover more of the country," says the director, who has been dedicated to China's AIDS campaign since coming to the country two years ago.

GBC has also voiced concerns about TB, which is a major danger in China, with an estimated 130,000 people dying from the disease annually.

Malaria, by comparison, is a relatively minor problem nationwide, but cases are rising in some counties in Southwest China, according to the organization.

Seven GBC member companies, - Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly & Co, General Motors, Anglo American PLC, Bayer, Becton Dickinson and SSL International - have given a helping hand to the charitable activity.

These companies not only provide financial support, but also organize employees as volunteers to distribute the playing cards.

"For our company, charity is not all about donating money. Financial sponsorship is part of what we do, but it should not become the whole," says Charles Tang, vice-president of Coca -Cola China Ltd in Corporate Affairs, one of the program sponsors.

"We also need to donate time to get more involved in the campaign and let our staff to get the experience of having closer contact with the disadvantaged group," says Tang, who traveled to Southwest China's Yunnan Province last year to visit Chinese orphans whose parents died from AIDS.

Coca-Cola has also extended its help to 188 Chinese orphans whose parents died of AIDS by sponsoring their education, daily expenses and medical treatment, while increasing public awareness by distributing educational brochures in some 200 rural counties and holding exhibitions in 21 cities throughout China.

Companies are not the only key members of the GBC campaign. The problem has drawn the attention of the Chinese government and local communities.

GBC is partnering with the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau and a volunteer student organization to facilitate the project.

The bureau will engage district health departments to help distribute the cards to migrant workers at construction sites. Student volunteers will distribute them on trains, heading to distant central and western provinces, which are likely to carry the most migrant workers.

The playing card initiative expands on an earlier pilot program in which GBC China collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control, UNAIDS and other NGOs to develop an HIV awareness training program for migrant workers. The program was tested at a Beijing 2008 Olympics construction site in late 2006.

About 50 workers among 400 workers that live in nearby dormitories participated in the program, while GBC provided reading material, pamphlets, playing cards with prevention messages and showed films.

The NGO also gave workers gift bags including towels, toothpaste and condoms.