Assessing HIV/AIDS Initiatives in China - Center for Strategic and ...

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Background to the Report
“AIDS prevention work is an issue relating to the quality of the population, economic
development, social stability and the rise or decline of the country.” —Chinese Minister
of Health Gao Qiang, November 30, 2005 1
Since 2002, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS) has closely observed the HIV/AIDS response in China. We
have conducted numerous research visits and organized senior-level delegations to China,
while also hosting many visiting Chinese officials, experts, and policymakers in
Washington, D.C., including two Chinese ministers of health. Between June 2002 and
December 2005, Freeman Chair staff members have made more than 25 separate trips to
China, logging some 300,000 air miles in travel to Yunnan, Sichuan, Anhui, Hubei, and
Xinjiang provinces, as well as to Beijing and Shanghai, to understand and assess the
HIV/AIDS situation in the country. This work has resulted in two major reports and
numerous other monographs, research articles, congressional testimonies, policy
briefings, and essays in both Chinese and English. 2
With the support of generous sponsors and in cooperation with the CSIS HIV/AIDS
Task Force, this work has offered a rare and valued opportunity to watch and take part in
the remarkable expansion in the Chinese and international response to the country’s
HIV/AIDS challenge. This report reflects on those efforts and seeks to answer the
question, “What has worked best in addressing the persistent HIV/AIDS challenges in
China, and what are some of the most promising ways forward?”
Given the vastness of the country, its rapidly evolving policy environment on
HIV/AIDS issues, and the increased international and domestic attention focused on
HIV/AIDS in China, an exhaustive and up-to-date survey and assessment of “who is
doing what where” on HIV/AIDS in China posed a difficult challenge. To narrow its
scope but provide a useful survey and analysis, the report focuses on programs addressing
HIV/AIDS where the disease presented the toughest immediate and long-term
challenges—primarily in Yunnan, Sichuan, and Xinjiang—and where the success or
failure of those interventions would ultimately shape and determine the future course of
the HIV/AIDS epidemic in China.
This research focused most heavily on prevention efforts rather than treatment
(though recognizing that the presence and integration of both is absolutely necessary for
overall success). Particular attention was devoted to international implementers and their
partners on the premise that their experience might bring time-tested and innovative
strategies, technologies, and productive practices that would hold promise for the broader
national response, especially as they are translated into real local capacity on the ground
in China. This report highlights the findings and observations from this research.
1 Gao Qiang, quoted in “China to Unveil 5-year AIDS Control Plan,” Xinhua (Beijing), November 30,
2005.
2 To access the work of the Freeman Chair in China Studies on China’s HIV/AIDS situation, go to
http://www.csis.org/china/hivaids/.