AIDS Activist Gao Yaojie Dies at 95

The Chinese doctor who exposed the AIDS epidemic in rural China spent her last decade in exile in the United States.

Gao Yaojie, the Chinese doctor and activist who exposed the AIDS epidemic in rural China in the 1990s, died at the age of 95 at her home in Manhattan, New York.
Gao's work, which embarrassed the Chinese government and led to her self-exile in the United States, was recognized by international organizations and officials.
She began her fight against AIDS in 1996, after her retirement as a respected gynecologist in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of her native Henan.
Gao's investigation revealed that illegal blood collection stations and unsanitary transfusion practices were driving the epidemic in Henan.
After moving to the U.S. in 2009, Gao devoted her years to writing books about China's handling of the AIDS crisis.