A timeline of HIV in China: From drug to blood to sex trades

Over the last three decades, very different accounts of China’s HIV prevalence have been published and spread by stakeholders in China and internationally. For example, the Chinese government perspective on the prevalence and spread of HIV in China has differed from reports issued by international organisations like the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS 2002). Both have in turn differed from accounts offered by local civil society organisations (CSOs), medical doctors, and HIV activists (Wu 2001: 30—34; Zhang 2005; Wang 2012c). Even the Chinese government narrative shifted significantly with its change of leadership in 2002. Although it is often a challenge to determine whose account is most reliable, these variations are informed by the differing ways in which data regarding the detection and spread of HIV is collected and analysed and, among other factors, whether the data includes field research findings or not. What is certain, however, is that HIV has become problematic in China in places where it has been under-reported and/or undiagnosed. This has been true in the central provinces of China, such as Henan, where HIV was not allowed to be reported on for almost a decade (Gao 2005).