 Passive disease surveillance methods were established in 1986, with local clinics and medical providers reporting confirmed cases progressively through district, city, and provincial channels, and then ultimately to three separate national agencies under the Ministry of Health.The Chinese government did not begin active surveillance and systematic data collection until 1995, when 42 national surveillance sites were established in 23 provincial-level regions with the help of the World Health Organization.By 2006, China had achieved comprehensive HIV/AIDS surveillance nationwide, following expansion of the surveillance network to over 300 sites and reforms of the national reporting systems, although rural areas remained under-covered.