Wan Yanhai is the leading HIV/AIDS activist in China. He is the director of the country's foremost AIDS-awareness group, the Aizhixing Institute of Health Education. His outspoken approach toward AIDS education has landed him in detention three times in the past 12 years. In 1994, Dr. Wan was fired from his post as a public health official for setting up the first HIV/AIDS telephone hotline in China. He was detained in 2002, after attending a film screening at a Beijing gay and lesbian film festival, and again in 2006, for organizing a public forum on HIV/AIDS. He was recently forced out of China due to political persecution for his criticism of the government’s attitude and policies toward HIV/AIDS.

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Wan Yanhai is China’s most prominent AIDS activist. He has suffered continuous persecution from the Chinese government for his efforts to help AIDS patients. In 1994, Dr. Yanhai was fired from his post as a public health official for setting up the first HIV/AIDS telephone hotline in China. He was then detained in 2002, after attending a film screening at a Beijing gay and lesbian film festival, and again in 2006, for organizing a public forum on HIV/AIDS to coincide with World AIDS day. After his release, Yanhai accused Chinese leaders of falling “asleep" as the virus spreads.

Yanhai is the director of China’s foremost AIDS-awareness group, the Aizhixing Institute of Health Education. The Chinese characters for “Aizhixing" represent love, knowledge, and action and are a play on the Chinese word for AIDS. Aizhixing uses public advocacy to promote the rights of AIDS patients and offers assistance to patients diagnosed with HIV who wish to sue the hospitals in which they contracted the virus. It also works with marginalized groups such as drug users and sex workers, which makes it a target of Chinese authorities who do not like Aixhixing’s outspokenly critical view of the government’s response to AIDS. Recently, the organization has come under intense official scrutiny; the office has been subjected to repeated unannounced visits from tax authorities, the commerce and industry bureau, and the fire department, looking for violations.

Yanhai is a signatory to Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiabo’s Charter 08, demanding freedom and human rights in China. Recently forced to flee with his family to the United States to escape political persecution, Yanhai continues to work with health officials to raise awareness.