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Gao Yaojie: Chinese Doctor Who Exposed AIDS Crisis

Dr. Gao Yaojie, a Chinese doctor who courageously fought government authorities to reveal an AIDS epidemic that was spreading in rural China due to dangerous blood collection practices, passed away on Sunday in her Upper Manhattan home. The 95-year-old was an AIDS advocate who was world-renowned for her bravery in exposing and attempting to stop the epidemic among impoverished farmers in the late 1990s, despite facing persecution from the Chinese Communist Party.

Arnold J. Nathan, a professor of Chinese politics at Columbia University who assisted Dr. Gao in the United States, confirmed her death.

Dr. Gao spent her last years in New York, continuing to bring attention to the deadly consequences of the reckless blood collection in hundreds of villages, especially in her home province of Henan, in central China. The slipshod methods caused tens of thousands of deaths from AIDS, yet Gao’s efforts exposed the concealed and downplayed outbreak and ultimately resulted in the Chinese government distributing medicine to infected villagers.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dr. Gao said, “AIDS not only killed individuals but destroyed countless families. This was a man-made catastrophe. Yet the people responsible for it have never been brought to account, nor have they uttered a single word of apology.”

Dr. Gao, known for her relentless spirit, became an advocate for AIDS education in her later years, despite facing many adversities throughout her life. Her early years were marked by numerous setbacks, including the Japanese invasion, the famine caused by Mao’s policies, and persecution during the Cultural Revolution.