Doctor and self-exiled activist Gao Yaojie dies at 95

Renowned Chinese doctor and activist Gao Yaojie who exposed the AIDS virus epidemic in rural China in the 1990s died Sunday (yesterday, Macau time) at the age of 95 at her home in the United States.

Gao’s outspokenness about the virus outbreak — which some gauged to have infected tens of thousands —drove her to live in self-exile for over a decade in Manhattan, New York.

Lin Shiyu, a woman close to Gao and who compiled an oral history of her, confirmed to The Associated Press in an email yesterday that Gao’s “guardian,” Columbia University professor Andrew J. Nathan, contacted her to let her know of the physician’s death. Nathan did not immediately respond to emailed questions by the AP.

Gao became China’s most well-known AIDS activist after speaking out against blood-selling schemes that infected thousands with HIV, mainly in her home province of Henan in central China. Her contributions were ultimately acknowledged to a certain extent by the Chinese government, which was forced to grapple with the AIDS crisis well into the 2000s.

Gao’s work received recognition from international organizations and officials. She moved to the U.S. in 2009, where she began holding talks and writing books about her experiences.

She told the Associated Press in a previous interview that she withstood government pressure and persisted in her work because “everyone has the responsibility to help their own people. As a doctor, that’s my job. So it’s worth it.” MDT/AP