In the early 1990s, local officials encouraged peasants to supplement their meagre incomes by selling blood plasma. Many Chinese are loath to give blood, believing it might weaken them. But the peasants were told they would get the blood back once the plasma had been removed. They were not told of the enormous risks. There would be no tests for HIV. The blood would be re-infused after being pooled with other donors’. So any virus would spread.

The Economist reports on a conspiracy of silence in China regarding tens of thousands of individuals (55, 000 in 2005 alone) who have contracted HIV-AIDS through tainted blood donations.

Victims complain of continuing pressure to stay quiet. Li Xige, an activist who says she contracted HIV from a transfusion during a caesarean operation, was placed under house arrest last month in her hometown of Ningling, a few kilometres from Shuangmiao. She had angered the authorities by protesting outside the health ministry in Beijing in July, calling for redress for dozens of local women similarly infected. The health ministry invited her to discuss the issue, but when she turned up for the meeting she was detained in the ministry compound by Ningling officials and escorted back to Henan.

Thus far no officials have been held accountable. Read the full article here.