This month, we mark the 30th year of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. On June 5, 1981 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published the first mention of what later is determined to be HIV. During the decade that followed, we stood on a precipice of doom.
More and more people were presenting with the disease, and soon after were dying painful and horrifying deaths. Doctors felt helpless, people were terrified and the public was panicking. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was the clinical term used to describe the sudden cases of Kaposi's sarcoma or pneumonia infection in previously healthy people. But AIDS became the loaded term that struck fear into the hearts of humanity.
We certainly have come a long way since that June day, 30 years ago. The discovery of the virus that causes AIDS, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) -- as well as the ways it is transmitted and the way it could be diagnosed -- helped propel us forward with the knowledge of how to prevent the spread of the virus and ultimately, how to treat it.
The discovery of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy and subsequent advances in that treatment helped shift the course of the disease, plummeting the number of AIDS-related deaths, saving countless lives and shifting HIV/AIDS from being a deadly disease to a chronic condition.
But make no mistake -- despite numerous advances, HIV/AIDS is not over. Every nine and a half minutes, someone in the United States becomes infected with the virus. More than one million people are living with HIV in the United States. One in five of those people living with HIV is unaware of his or her infection. And while the annual number of new HIV infections remains stable, the infection rate is still far too high, with an estimated 56,300 Americans becoming infected with HIV each year.
HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately affect our nation's most vulnerable populations: Communities of color (especially African-Americans), men who have sex with men (MSM), women and low-income, poor and homeless individuals. The epidemic continues to be driven by stigma, which has a significant (negative) impact on prevention and treatment efforts in those communities hardest hit by it. More than 640,000 people living with HIV -- many of whom know their status -- are not in the care of an HIV-specializing medical provider.
In the last year alone leading up to this 30th anniversary, we've experienced both great hope and maddening frustration in our efforts to fight the epidemic. The ban was lifted on the use of federal funds for syringe exchange programs, which have been proven to reduce transmission of HIV and other blood borne illnesses. The White House released the first-ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), which has given us the blueprint for a focused and coordinated response to America's HIV/AIDS epidemic. We've learned of promising new findings on vaccine research, microbicides and ARV treatment as prevention.
But we also have witnessed the explosion of waiting lists of people who need their life-saving HIV medications from state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP). We've had to fight against draconian budget cuts to critical federal HIV/AIDS programs in the 2011 federal budget and are facing even bigger budget battles for 2012.
This is no time to give up! In fact, observing the 30th anniversary of AIDS can inspire us to work even harder to ensure that there are as few of these anniversaries left as possible. We all have an important role to play!
As individuals, we must educate ourselves about HIV/AIDS. We must know our HIV status and get tested. We must practice safer sex. We must learn about local, state and federal public policies and programs that promote the health and well-being of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. We must communicate with our lawmakers and let them know that critical HIV/AIDS services are in need of further funding.
As HIV/AIDS organizations, we must develop innovative ways to reach those who need us the most. We must cultivate strategic collaborations with one another that help make our work more effective and efficient. We must advocate for sound HIV/AIDS policy, for increased federal and state resources, and for full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. We must fight for effective vaccines, microbicides and other promising prevention tools.
As private sector companies and philanthropists, we must increase investments in both innovation and evidence-based programs that support community-driven responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
As Americans we must remember that HIV/AIDS is a preventable disease and a winnable battle! We must work together to create a new anniversary that will be cause for real celebration: the end of AIDS in America.
Mark Mehler: 'There is Life After an HIV Diagnosis'
Diane Winston: Religion and AIDS at 30
Edward Flattau: The Vatican's Unsupportable Logic
For those who don't know, I personally cared for HIV positive patients for over 15 years. They ranged in age from teenagers to patients in their 70's. Personally, I could not bring myself to care for HIV positive children and referred them elsewhere.
I have decideded not to reply directly to those who choose to blame the patient for the disease. Until you have walked in the patients' shoes, or mine, you know not of what you express. The logic expressed would dictate that we don't treat lung or bladder cancers in smokers, esophogeal cancers in smokers or drinkers.....in fact any condition cause by a patient's behavior or their partners. If you are a coal miner and develop black lung, shame on you. If you don't smoke, but are exposed to second hand smoke and develop lung cancer, shouldn't you have known better? Guess you wouldn't treat them and not waste the resources...after all, they should have known better.
You may not feel they are worthy of care, but they are people just like the rest of us. I would be honored to care for them.
View the Award winning documentary "House of Numbers" to see why questions about this must be raised, and why deeper issues about HIV and AIDS need to be discussed. Lives are at risk. This is the first documentary,with the worlds
foremost authorities, that highlights the fundamental problems with HIV
testing, science, and statistics. It sheds new light on a misunderstood
phenomenon for which there is still no cure. GO to bit.ly/fhUxaJ - bit.ly/gogKLZ to see the trailer.