Gao Yaojie, upon receiving a leadership award in the US, laments her powerlessness to stop the disease spreading
Mainland Aids activist Gao Yaojie says she feels ashamed for failing to stop the spread of the deadly disease in China.
'I feel ashamed for not being able to stop the spread of Aids. I have failed and we as a nation have also failed,' the 80-year-old told a press conference at Washington's Georgetown University on Wednesday. 'I wish I could do more. We as a nation must do more.'
Dr Gao was in the American capital to receive an international human rights award from the women's group, Vital Voices. Her visit attracted worldwide attention because authorities from her home province of Henan had put Dr Gao, also known as Grandma Courage, under house arrest in an attempt to prevent her from travelling to accept the award.
It was only after international outcry about her situation that she was able to take the trip.
A retired gynaecologist, Dr Gao has been instrumental in exposing the spread of the Aids in Henan through the sale of blood in poor farming communities during the 1990s. She also has adopted hundreds of orphans whose parents were killed by the disease. For her efforts, Henan officials have constantly harassed her and her family.