Brave Chinese Doctor Begins Difficult Journey

BEIJING, Feb. 24, 2007 — -- As the elderly doctor showed the newly stamped U.S. visa on her Chinese passport, the expression on her wrinkled face was more of anxiety and worry, not excitement or joy.

"It is my first time to go abroad, but I have mixed feelings about it," Gao Yaojie told ABC News during her stay in a Beijing hotel before her scheduled departure.

The retired gynecologist will be traveling to Washington, where she will be among a handful of women around the world to be honored on March 14 by Vital Voices Global Partnership, a non-profit advocacy group supported by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

"Many people think I should be very happy when I get the visa. But I actually feel so much pain," Gao said with a tinge of emotion.

She gained international recognition for exposing an AIDS outbreak in central China due to blood-selling schemes that infected thousands of farmers with HIV in the 1990s. She is also known for her dedication to educating people on AIDS prevention and caring for the orphans of AIDS victims, a personal crusade that she financed with her own funds.

Because of her devotion, she is viewed by many Chinese as a heroine worthy of awe and admiration.

"If I tell the truth when I am in the U.S., Chinese officials will not be able to take it," she said, "especially those from Henan province."

But Gao hastened to add, "I am already 80 years of age and I cannot lie to the people around the world."

Then, with a firm voice, she emphatically said, "I want to tell the truth about AIDS in China."

The province of Henan in central China is where Gao's family lives. It is also the place where her 11-year odyssey as an AIDS activist started when she discovered villages of poor farmers who became victims of the deadly virus after they sold their blood for money during a government-sponsored drive to increase the supply in blood banks.

The petite widow is deeply aware of the price she has to pay for her courage to speak the truth about AIDS. She recalled how she was placed under surveillance by local officials afraid of bad publicity about AIDS in their areas, how she was warned not to discuss the spread of AIDS with journalists, and how police agents monitored all those who visited her home.