On the day marking the global fight against Aids, Beijing migrant workers are given free condoms and safe-sex advice
World Aids Day was marked across the mainland yesterday with activities ranging from the practical to the dramatic.
A team from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention visited a construction site in Beijing's Chaoyangmen district at noon. Using frank talk, billboards and information packs, the medical staff gave workers advice on safe sex.
The construction workers clamoured for the free condoms being passed out, and 5,000 were snapped up in a few minutes. That forced the medical team to hold another 5,000 in reserve, for distribution before workers return home for the Lunar New Year.
Hundreds of workers listened attentively to the hour-long talk, especially to the demonstration on how to use a condom.
'They are young when they become sexually active,' said Li Xiaohong of the centre. 'They are not only away from their home town, but probably also from their regular sexual partners.'
Dr Li said awareness was the key to stopping the disease from spreading. 'But the workers usually don't have much knowledge about Aids, so we need to strengthen sex education,' she said.
