高耀洁医生，理应得到喝彩和嘉奖

----希拉里-罗德姆-克林顿(Hillary Rodham Clinton)

时光回溯到1996年，时值全球艾滋病危机高峰期，一个退休的中国妇产科大夫高耀洁医生给一个42岁的女人会诊。这个女人刚刚动过一次子宫手术，但是病情没有好转。高耀洁检查后，要求医院给病人做一个艾滋病毒测试。据她所知，她所在的河南省已经出现了艾滋病病例。但是，她的同事们无法想象：一个农村女人，怎么可能得上这种被称为“洋病”的艾滋病?在他们的印象中，一般都是吸毒的人和性工作者才得这种病。但是，血液检查结果竟然呈阳性!这让高耀洁急于找到背后的原因。她发现这个女人之所以感染艾滋病，是因为她动手术时输了政府管理的血库血。她立刻意识到：如果血库的血被污染了，那么无论是输血的人，还是卖血的人，他们肯定都被传染上了艾滋病。
于是，高耀洁的足迹踏遍中国的农村地区，发现艾滋病感染率已经很高了。很多被感染的村民并不知道他们是如何被感染的，也不知道他们得病的原因以及死亡即将来临。高耀洁同时发现，那些被贿赂的政府官员，他们与血站沆瀣一气，对农民卖血被染病的事情视而不见。
从1991年至1995年，当地甚至发展了“血浆经济”。高耀洁和其他医生敦促政府提醒那些卖血的人们，献血(此处应为卖血)和输血存在感染艾滋病的风险。但是政府置若罔闻。无奈之下，高耀洁开始四处演讲，散发预防艾滋病的书面材料。她甚至在媒体上大声呼吁。这是一个很有勇气的举动，因为在中国，媒体受到政府的严密监管。过了几年，关于中国政府在这场丑闻中扮演了同谋角色的新闻占据了中外媒体各大版面。最后，全球媒体密集的批评报道终于迫使中国政府关停了非法经营的血站。但是，对于那些已经被感染艾滋病的成千上万的病人来说，为时已晚。
看着那些可怜的农民遭受如此大的不公正，高耀洁的心里燃起了正义之火。她坚持不懈地推动政府给予受害者合法的权利和合适的补偿，自己也慷慨解囊，帮助那些受艾滋病影响的孤儿。她因此被称为“艾滋病奶奶”和“勇气可嘉的奶奶”。她坚持不懈地收集受害者的资料，此举大大激怒了地方官员，他们中间很多人从血站获益。他们威胁高耀洁及她的家人，但这也无法让高耀洁止步。
其实，这已经不是她第一次被共产党政权逼迫。作为一个受过良好教育的医生，她曾经被打成“反革命分子”，在劳改营呆了一年。她和家人最后于1973年团圆，她也重返医生岗位。
第一次听说高耀洁医生是在2007年初。她因为在艾滋病防治方面的杰出贡献，美国一家机构“生命之音”要给她颁奖。这家机构是我在当“第一夫人”期间帮助建立的。河南当地官员知道这件事情后，他们把高耀洁软禁在家里。我听说她无法赴美领奖，赶紧写信给时任中国国家主席的胡锦涛先生和国务院副总理的吴仪女士，请求他们协助放行高耀洁。吴仪副总理是当时中国地位最高的女性，也是卫生部部长(吴仪兼任卫生部部长)和政治局常委。她在这个过程中扮演了重要角色，最后高耀洁被允许到美国领奖。
2007年3月，我在办公室里见到了高耀洁医生，两人促膝长谈。我看着她，惊奇万分----一个身材矮小瘦弱的女性何以有这么强大的精神力量!她走路略显蹒跚，因为她小时候双足被缠成小脚。即便如此，她依然保持着永不止歇的活力。
2009年2月，我作为美国国务卿首次出访中国，和高耀洁重逢了。会谈中，我说道，社会的变化来自很多个体的决定，如果成千上万的人像高耀洁那样站出来，说，“不，我不想沉默”，那么社会的变化指日可待。当年11月30日，正值“国际艾滋病日”前夕，在我的办公室里，我们又见面了。我当时深深感到，高耀洁医生因为说出中国艾滋病真相而被骚扰，让人感到遗憾和不解。其实她是在帮助政府如何正确应对艾滋病危机，她理应得到喝彩和嘉奖。
谈话过程中，高耀洁说我让她想起了她的母亲(其实我比她本人还年轻)。虽然我们人生经历不同，但是我们沟通无阻。说到我们之间的会面，高耀洁后来说，我不需要解释更多，我可以告诉她想了解的事情。一个80多岁的老人如何经历了中国的“文化大革命”，如何揭露了中国最大的血库被污染的丑闻，如何承受了软禁和家庭分离。我谈论着这些，好像什么都没发生，我甚至用开玩笑的口吻。但是她能体会我作为一个人，一个母亲和一个医生的感受。她理解我所经历的一切。
不久前，我去纽约一栋公寓里探访了高耀洁，她从2010年5月起就住在那里。虽然常年卧床，她还是骄傲地告诉我，她正在写自己的第31本书。面对无法想象的困难，她始终保持坚韧；无论谁试图让她沉默，她还是选择继续说出真相。这对我们来说是个莫大的提醒： 一个意志坚定的女性是可以克服一切困难的。










(引用自《勇敢女性的书：最有勇气和韧性的故事》，希拉里•罗徳姆•克林顿和切尔西•克林顿著，2019年10月出版)
Dr. Gao Yaojie

By Hillary Clinton

Back in 1996，the midst of e×ploding global AIDS crisis，a retired Chinese gynecologist，Dr. Gao Yaojie，consulted in the case of a forty-two-year-old woman who was not improving after ovarian surgery. After e×amining her，Gao demanded an HIV test because，based on her own practice，she knew that AIDS was present where she livedin，Henan Province. Her colleagues could not imagine how a peasant farmer could have contracted HIV，a “foreign disease"，they perceive to only affect drug addicts and se× workers. The test came back positive，sending Gao on a hunt to find out what had happened. She discovered that the woman had contracted AIDS from a transfusion that used blood from a government blood bank. Gao immediately understood that if the governmentwas supplying the blood，much of the supply could be tainted，and many more people could be infected both from transfusions and from selling their own blood and plasma.
Gao traveled across rural China，finding high rates of infection and little understanding by the people affected about how they had become infected and why they were sick and dying. She also discovered that corrupt local government officials were complicit in turning a blind eye to poor farmers selling their blood，creating the "plasma economy" between 1991 and 1995.
Gao and other doctors urged the government to warn people about the risk of contracting AIDS from blood donations and transfusions，and to stop the system. When that didn’t happen，Gao began making speeches and distributing written warning. She even began speaking to the press，an especially courageous move given how closely the Chinese government monitored the media. After a few years，the story about the Chinese governments complicit in the blood scandal started being covered in both the Chinese and the international media. The negative global press finally forced China to ban unlicensed plasma and blood collection centers，but it was too late for the thousands of people already infected
Gao burned with righteous anger at the deadly injustice done to vulnerable people，and kept pushing the government for legal rights and compensation for victims. She gave financial help to children orphaned because of AIDS. She was nicknamed "AIDS Granny" and "Grandmother Courage". Her relentless campaign to raise the profile of victims and hold the government accountable enraged local officials，many of whom had profited from the blood centers. They threatened her and her family but failed to stop her.
It was not the first time she suffered under the Communist Party regime. As an educated doctor，she was accused of being an elite counterrevolutionary and spent a year in forced labor camp. She and her family were finally reunited in 1973，and she returned to her medical practice.
The first time I heard of Dr Gao Yaojie was early in 2007. She had been invited the United States to receive an award for her AIDS advocacy from Vital Voices，an organization that I helped start as first lady. When the local authorities in China learned about the award，they put her under house arrest. When I heard that she wasn't being allowed to travel，I wrote a letter to President Hu Jintao and Vice Premier Wu Yi asking that they permit her to come. Vice Premier Wu Yi，the highest-ranking woman in the Chinese government at the time，also Health Minister and a politburo member，played an instrumental role in getting Gao released and granting her permission to come to the United States.
I met Dr. Gao at me senate office for a long talk in March 2007 and saw for myself how formidable this diminutive woman was. Her walk was hobbled from her feet having been bound as a child，but she was an unstoppable energy force.
I saw her again on my very first trip as secretary of state to China in February 2009，where I said： "Change really does come from individual decision，many millions of individual decision，where someone stands up like Dr. Gao and say No，I am not going to be quiet. That’s what we have to encourage. We were together again on November 30，2009，in my office at the State Department on the eve of World AIDS Day. I pointed out then that Dr Gao Yaojie has been harassed for speaking out about AIDS In China，she should instead be applauded by her government for helping to confront the crisis.
Later，Gao told me that I reminded her of her mother (even though I was much younger than her!). She and I connected despite our different life e×periences. Of our connection，she said:"I didn't need to e×plain too much. I could tell how much she wanted to understand what I，an eightysomething-year-old lady，went through in China-the Culture Revolution，uncovering the largest tainted blood scandal in China，house arrest，and forced family separation. I talked about it like nothing，and I joked about it，but she understood me as a person，a mother，a doctor. She knew what I really went through.”
I recently visited her apartment in New York，where she has lived since May of 2010. Although confined to her bed，she proudly told me she was working on her thirty-first book. Her resilience in the face of almost unimaginable difficulties，and her insistence on speaking the truth no matter who tries to silence her，is a powerful reminder of what one determined woman can overcome.


(Quoted from: ，written by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton，October 2019)