ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an understanding of the political, economic, social, cultural and global health issues that have shaped how the virus is spread, managed, engaged by sick and advocacy groups, and perceived by the general public in China. The inequality which has characterised China’s social and economic development since the economic liberalisation reforms of the late 1970s has directly shaped the way HIV and AIDS have affected the nation. Over the last three decades, very different accounts of China’s HIV prevalence have been published and spread by stakeholders in China and internationally. Political transition has also played a key role in the management and reporting of HIV in China. Since the early 2000s, HIV has also become a major concern in Xinjiang and some areas of Sichuan province among the injection drug using (IDU) population. The history of HIV in China is marked by controversy and political, social, economic, and international factors.
