A catastrophe occurred in China’s Henan Province in the 1990s when blood collectors came into the rural farming areas. They recruited poor, subsistence farmers to give blood, in return for a small fee — to augment their meager incomes.

Unsterile blood collection procedures spread the HIV virus to those who participated, resulting in the death of more than 10,000 adults from HIV/AIDS and leaving behind more than 2,000 orphaned children.

Flutist Linda McDonald Mintener holds concerts that benefit the Amity Foundation Orphan Project in China. The organization runs a sponsorship program for the orphans, which helps provide them with food and clothing and access to education.

McDonald Mintener holds an undergraduate degree from India School of Music in Bloomington, Ind., where she studied flute and piccolo, and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin. She joins us on Worldview Thursday to talk about her work to benefit the AIDS orphans of China’s Henan Province.