Dr. “Harvey Paull,” an SIM physician, visited a Chinese doctor who trains members of China’s official Three-Self Church to minister to those affected by AIDS in central China. More than a decade ago, unscrupulous and unsanitary blood collection practices infected thousands with HIV. Entire communities in this county are informally called “AIDS villages.”

“In the beginning people wouldn’t even buy cabbages from these AIDS villages,” the doctor explained. “There was so much fear and stigma.” The Christians shared the prejudices at first, but now they’re the ones who care for the dying, show compassion, and give accurate information. Their neighbors trust them implicitly.

“How long,” asked Dr. Paull, “did it take for these attitudes to change?”

“Two years,” replied the Chinese doctor.

Dr. Paull envisioned Chinese believers from various backgrounds, classes, and cultures bringing God’s grace to those now living with HIV or AIDS and those at risk of infection. He says, “We are still in the early stages of seeing what may become a general spread of AIDS throughout the society. But it’s not too soon to mobilize. The China government claims about 650,000 Chinese are infected with HIV. That’s a tiny percentage of more than a billion people. But Asian countries, including China, are now home to some of the fastest growing AIDS epidemics in the world.”

According to UNAIDS, “The situation [in China] is currently a confluence of multiple epidemics. There are an estimated 30-50 million people who are at risk of exposure to HIV. Female injecting drug users who sell sex—and their partners—are at particularly high risk.”

A Disease of Broken Relationships

AIDS is a disease of broken relationships. The pathway of its entrance into China reflects such relationships. Intravenous drug abuse, especially in Yunnan and Xinjiang provinces, was an early “infection engine.” Today 50 percent or more of drug users are infected with HIV. The sex trade is another area of broken relationships, infecting many women—both commercial sex workers and faithful wives at home—with the virus. AIDS, which entered China at its western borders among minority groups, has now made its way to the central parts of China. It is breaking out from the high-risk groups and becoming a more generalized epidemic, fueled by multiple sexual relationships.

Dr. Paull pleads, “We must not wait until 50 million Chinese are living with HIV. What wisdom can we gather from Christians who are already making a difference in Africa? Seek God’s wisdom and make prayer a priority. The problems underneath HIV—such as corruption, sexual sin, oppression, injustice, and stigma—are ‘ready-made’ for the Gospel. Only God is big enough for HIV and AIDS.

“Then we need to learn from effective programs. Dr. Ted Green, a Harvard consultant, describes the grass-roots efforts by ordinary people that turned around the HIV epidemic in Uganda in the 1990s. The success factors he discovered include government commitment and a response by all sectors of society, including the church, to emphasize ‘primary behavior change,’ i.e., abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage. Experts estimate that the effect of this primary behavior change in Uganda was the equivalent of a ‘social vaccine’ which was 80% effective!”

We need to do what we can to help mobilize Chinese believers, volunteers, Christian and not-for-profit ministries, and businesses to become leaders in HIV and AIDS ministries.