Wan Yanhai

Who is Wan Yanhai?

Wan Yanhai is the best-known AIDS activist in China born 20 November 1963.

Dr. Wan started his career at China's Ministry of Health, where among other things he translated the first announcement of the AIDS epidemic into Chinese. He set up the first HIV/AIDS telephone hotline in China where people could obtain comprehensive information on HIV/AIDS.

After this, he focused much of his AIDS work on advocating for health care and human rights of people with AIDS living in Henan Province, where there was a coverup of blood selling businesses connected to local officials infected tens of thousands men, women, and children with the AIDS virus. He expanded his work to advocate for the health of injection drug users, sex workers, and other marginalized groups disproportionately affected by the AIDS epidemic. He was co-founder of the Beijing LGBT Center, the first gay community center in China. His "frank and aggressive" approach toward AIDS has led to frequent run-ins with authorities and landed him in detention three times in the past 12 years, including a month-long detention in 2002 that made international headlines and sparked a successful international campaign for his release.