The history of AIDS in China

China’s first AIDS case was reported in Beijing in 1985⁶. In the following five years a small number of further cases were reported among foreigners and Chinese, who were infected overseas or by imported blood products⁷.

During the early stages of the AIDS epidemic the Health Ministry concentrated its prevention efforts on the risk of infection from abroad. In 1986 it announced that it planned to test all foreign students for AIDS who had been in the country for more than a year, and students entering China would require a certificate from their country of origin testifying that they were not infected with HIV⁸. Although a National Programme for AIDS Prevention and Control was set up in 1987, the Public Health Authorities reported that AIDS would not become established as homosexuality and "abnormal" sexuality - thought to be the main causes of the spread of HIV - were a "limited" problem