Growth of Aids in China

AIDS is a growing world epidemic. By the late 1980s, the WHO was able to map the prevalence of the disease in many different parts of the world. Cases were first reported in North America and Europe, and then followed by Africa. By the mid-1990s, AIDS made its way to Asia, predominantly in South and Southeast Asia (Hyde, 1). In China, HIV/AIDS has been continuing to spread over the past few decades. Initially, the disease was not treated as a threat as it was concentrated to minority groups in southwestern China. The development of AIDS in Yunnan can be attributed to increased drug use in rural areas, poor regulation of blood banks and sex tourism. Preventative measures for the spread of HIV were not taken because of the way HIV was initially viewed.

When HIV first began to be reported in China, cases were concentrated in the southwestern region in minority ethnic groups instead of the Han Chinese population. The initial studies of the disease were focused on finding a link between the virus and ethnic culture and ethnic behaviors, instead of realizing that poverty and drug trafficking were the main drivers (Hyde, 18). Because the government saw the disease as an ethnic problem, they did not manage it properly. It was treated as a border issue because the main group of people affected were of different ethnicity (Hyde, 43). China has had a history of being more focused on central China where the larger metropolitan areas are and don’t regulate the rural areas in the periphery as much. Because it was considered a border issue, not much was being done initially because border officials chose to use their resources for other problems (Hyde, 75). The initial reaction to cases of HIV was indifferent because it was not viewed as a pressing issue, which allowed the disease to spread quickly in the area.

While the lack of preventative measures allowed the disease to spread, risky behaviors such as injected drug use and donating to unregulated blood banks caused HIV to...