NEW YORK -- China's decision to bar Dr. Gao Yaojie from attending an award ceremony in the United States is the latest example of the Chinese government's mistaken policy on AIDS. Taken together with other policies, it shows that by trying to avoid publicity about AIDS and ignoring the rapid spread of HIV, the government is contributing to the spread of the disease rather than to its elimination.
Unless there is a dramatic change in Beijing's AIDS policy, the spread of HIV will have a devastating impact on the health of the Chinese people and on the country's economy.
Gao, the third winner of the Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights from the Global Health Council -- a non-profit organization based in the U.S. -- was to have received the award at a ceremony hosted by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The award was a recognition of the doctor's efforts to combat the spread of HIV among poor farmers in Henan Province, an agricultural region in central China. The situation of AIDS in Henan, which has a population of 90 million, has become a focus of attention for public-health experts.