Socio-political activism to raise awareness about

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

as well as to advance the effective treatment and care of people with AIDS (PWAs) has taken place in multiple locations since the 1980s. The evolution of the disease's progress into what's known as the HIV/AIDS pandemic has resulted in various

social movements A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of ...

fighting to change both government policies and the broader

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

inside of different areas. These groups have interacted in a complex fashion with others engaged in related forms of

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

campaigning, with this continuing on to this day. As a major

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

that began within marginalized populations, efforts to mobilize funding sources, scientifically advance treatment, and also fight

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

have largely been dependent on the work of

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

organizers directly confronting

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

organizations (often government-managed medical bureaucracies) as well as news media businesses,

pharmaceutical companies The pharmaceutical industry is a Medicine, medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or Self-medicate, self-administered b ...

, groups of politicians, and other institutions. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, this has involved political fights involving both the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

and the U.S. Presidency given the country's healthcare system. As recounted in journalist Randy Shilts' book '' And the Band Played On'', multiple U.S. doctors inside of groups such as the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO) labeled the

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

failures as the crisis developed as "an indictment of our era" and had to become activists on their patients' behalf, especially since initially so many "had died unlamented and unremarked by the media." For instance, Dr.

Robert Gallo Robert Charles Gallo (; born March 23, 1937) is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in establishing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the infectious agent responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome ( ...

of the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

(NCI) and other institutions sought U.S. news outlets' attention in going against the

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

and working for anti-AIDS measures that would resemble

Project Apollo The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

during the

Space Race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...

in both

determination Determination is a positive emotional feeling that promotes persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles. Determination occurs prior to goal attainment and serves to motivate behavior that will help achieve one's goal. Empirical ...

and funding. Issues such as the controversial lack of action undertaken by the Ronald Reagan administration in the U.S. during the 1980s alongside rampant

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

and the spread of misconceptions about HIV/AIDS led to outright discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS, especially in the days of the

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

before mass activism. Work by advocates for social justice spread across different parts of the U.S. over time. Movements of mass demonstration such as the grassroots collective

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

arose to fight for the rights of PWAs and to work to end the pandemic. Methods of protest have included the writing of position papers and making posters, public marches (and other formalized acts of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

), candlelight vigils, die-ins, and many creative approaches to direct action, such as kiss-ins involving public affection between individuals who aren't ' in-the-closet'.

Background of activist methods and principles

Activist groups focused on

in the

initially drew their numbers from the

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, and male

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

communities as a whole, with socio-political campaigns including culturally active patients who were struggling with their

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

themselves. As the HIV/AIDS pandemic progressed, both friends and family of those diagnosed often joined in, with this evolution often occurring alongside allies from other communities such as many marginalized peoples. The

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

fundamentally tried to increase awareness about the serious

as well as to advance the effective treatment and care of people with AIDS (PWAs). Protest organizations such as the

collective

have gone up against not just a

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

that had to change but also core aspects of

American politics In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, C ...

with respect to U.S. healthcare services. As a major illness related to

across different locations, political fighting spread to discord involving both the

and the U.S. Presidency. As recounted in journalist Randy Shilts' book '' And the Band Played On'', multiple U.S. doctors inside of groups such as the

(WHO) labeled government failures as the crisis developed as "an indictment of our era" and had to become activists on their patients' behalf, especially since initially so many "had died unlamented and unremarked by the media." For example, Dr.

of the

(NCI) and other institutions sought U.S. news outlets' attention in going against the

and working for anti-AIDS measures that would resemble

during the

in both

and funding. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, the fight against HIV/AIDS began largely among patients themselves only to grow to a broad social concern among most of the nation's

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...

. Movements of mass demonstration and related campaigns then evolved into a general coalition of

South Africans South Africans are the citizens of South Africa (officially the Republic of South Africa ''RSA. These individuals include those residing within the borders of South Africa, as well as the South African diaspora. History The first modern inh ...

pushing for anti-disease treatments as a part of a socio-economic right to healthcare. Multiple advocates within the nation's

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.ideal that sets forth a shared approach to

human rights in South Africa Human rights in South Africa are protected under the Chapter 2 of the Constitution of South Africa, constitution. The 1998 Human Rights report by Myles Nadioo noted that the government generally respected the rights of the citizens; however, the ...

. The collapse of the apartheid system and the evolution of the nation's politics throughout the 1990s involved parallel actions taken to both fight

in the anti-racist movement and also to fight

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

in the movement on behalf of LGBT rights. Activists have perceived the hatreds behind government actions as of the same moral level as wider patterns of exclusion and

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

that hurt South African communities. Highly bigoted attitudes supporting

as more and more were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS endured for many years as, according to one scholarly report, a significant number of South Africans perceived the disease as "just desserts" that

destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

had imposed upon those engaged in supposedly sinful actions. Talk of South Africa experiencing a "gay plague" boiled over in the country's

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

. To be specific, certain private

hospitals A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency ...

in the nation refused to admit HIV/AIDS patients at all. Nonetheless, over time, as one scholarly report has concluded, the "early location of gay rights within hewider human rights discourses of the anti-apartheid movement" and its tie to activism supporting those with HIV/AIDS resulted in a general shift towards progressive politics. This has meant South Africans as a united peoples embracing compassionate care for those with HIV/AIDS as a matter of fundamental

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

, at least to a degree. The example of seminal anti-racist campaigner

Simon Nkoli Simon Tseko Nkoli (also spelled Simon Nkodi; 26 November 1957 – 30 November 1998) was an Internal resistance to South African apartheid, anti-apartheid, gay rights, and HIV/AIDS activism, AIDS activist in South Africa. Active in the Congress ...

going into HIV/AIDS related activism "and his early openness about his HIV status... longsidehis subsequent death from AIDS over a decade later" particularly "became a catalyst". In general terms, methods of protest by HIV/AIDS activists have included marching with placards at appearances of political leaders (or at " a 'Pride' march"), leafletting, the distribution of art projects, the hanging of certain

politicians A politician is a person who participates in policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles or duties tha ...

effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...

, sit-ins, and die-ins among other activities. Such activism may be regarded as in some sense "

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

". During die-ins, protesters lie motionless in the street, often blocking traffic, or in the aisles of a church (such as at ACT UP's 1989, Stop the Church action), to symbolize all the people who have died of AIDS. In the U.S., the

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of the inverted

pink triangle A pink triangle is a symbol for the LGBT community. Initially intended as a badge of shame, it was later reappropriated as a positive symbol of self-identity. It originated in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s as one of the Nazi concentratio ...

(which is a pride symbol arising from a social "reclaiming" that was originally utilized by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in its persecution of homosexuals alongside the

yellow badge The yellow badge, also known as the yellow patch, the Jewish badge, or the yellow star (, ), was an accessory that Jews were required to wear in certain non-Jewish societies throughout history. A Jew's ethno-religious identity, which would be d ...

assigned to

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

) and the slogan ' Silence=Death', together, is common. Artists and activists from the originating collective, and then later ACT UP have used posters and stickers of the image across New York City, then worldwide, during the worst times of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The image is now owned by ACT UP and members often wear it on

t-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

s, buttons, and utilize it in various other types of media.

History of anti-disease activism by region

History of anti-disease activism in Africa

The widespread belief in various misconceptions about HIV/AIDS has resulted in a serious handicap holding back medical progress in certain locations inside of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. A number of activists have worked in a variety of different contexts to promote effective treatment and to fight back cultural barriers to their work. One particular viewpoint that's drawn international media attention is the ' virgin cleansing myth', with certain African communities believing that

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

with a inexperienced partner can somehow

cure A cure is a substance or procedure that resolves a medical condition. This may include a medication, a surgery, surgical operation, a lifestyle change, or even a philosophical shift that alleviates a person's suffering or achieves a state of heali ...

either AIDS or the underlying HIV

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

itself. Activist Betty Makoni is one particular campaigner who has repeatedly worked to dispel the myth both within her home communities inside

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and elsewhere. Her efforts in HIV/AIDS activism and in supporting the broader issue of civil rights involving

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...

has involved setting up the charitable group known as the Girl Child Network, and the U.S. news publication ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' has commented upon her "courageous work", especially given the socio-political tensions around

human rights in Zimbabwe There were widespread reports of systematic and escalating violations of human rights in Zimbabwe under the regime of Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, between 1980 and 2017. According to human rights organisations such as Amnesty Interna ...

. She's the central figure behind the internationally known

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

'' Tapestries of Hope''. In terms of social activism by Africans against their governments directly, the controversial 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Bill inside of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, which aimed at making homosexual sex a criminal offense, earned condemnation from individual campaigners as well as from groups such as

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tu ...

(which is also known simply as the Global Fund). Said organization stated that excluding marginalized peoples significantly compromises efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda, which has been a widespread social problem to the point that the

President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the global health funding by the United States to address the global HIV/AIDS Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS, epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease ...

(known as PEPFAR) group based out of the U.S. gave a full $285 million in recent years to fight the pandemic's lingering spread. Hardline forms of

social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...

and other ideological opinions have presented a significant challenge inside the nation. The Global Fund's work in HIV/AIDS activism has been paralleled by the U.S. embassy's actions condemning the bill. Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill protest

Broadly speaking, human rights in Uganda have involved campaigns to support healthcare for HIV/AIDS patients as well as multiple other marginalized communities struggling due to the lack of proper attention. In March 2023, the International AIDS Society (IAS) issued an official statement pleading for those in power to "ground Uganda’s laws and policies in science rather than prejudice". The organization warned that efforts to "reinforce stigma and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community" constitute a challenge that significantly "hamper progress on ensuring safe access to health services." The IAS argued in broad terms on behalf of a "legal environment that protects– rather than prosecutes– gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who use drugs, trans people and sex workers to safely access" HIV/AIDS related treatment and additional measures. Struggles against HIV/AIDS have been a persistent problem in South Africa specifically, with over five million of the nation's people being HIV positive as of 2004 data. In the shadow of the collapsed

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

system, the country-wide debate on the disease has focused on the intense conflict between social activists aligned with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the nation's government. Official support for

AIDS denialism HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while othe ...

and the administering of what has been seen as inadequate access to HIV treatment outraged activists who viewed the government's policies as a denial of their basic

right to life The right to life is the belief that a human (or other animal) has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another entity. The concept of a right to life arises in debates on issues including: capital punishment, with some ...

. Efforts by the TAC and associated individuals achieved success when, in September 2003, the South African Cabinet finally instructed the country's health ministry to create a comprehensive HIV treatment and prevention plan. Later commentators have considered the TAC campaign as one of the most successful if not the most successful example of civil society pushing for human rights in South Africa since the end of apartheid."The Treatment Action Campaign and the History of Rights-Based, Patient-Driven HIV/AIDS Activism in South Africa"
/ref> HIV prevalence varies drastically from country to country inside Africa. For example,

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS; , ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ex ...

research in 2007 found that 23.9% of adults in Botswana had been inflected in comparison to the values of 12.5% in Mozambique and 2.8% in Rwanda. The South Africa and Zimbabwe had values of 18.1% and 15.3%, respectively.A Global View of HIV Infection
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2008). Retrieved 4 January 2019.

History of AIDS activism in North America

In the United States, AIDS, which had not yet been named, came into the awareness of affected communities in the early 1980's, and reached critical mass by the mid 1980s. Because of the long incubation period of HIV, which can go on for over a decade while symptoms of AIDS gradually appear, HIV was not noticed at first by health professionals or by those infected. By the time the first reported cases of a mysterious, fatal immune system condition were found in large U.S. cities such as New York City, the prevalence of infection had passed 5% in some communities. The AIDS epidemic officially began on 5 June 1981, when the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

(CDC) issued findings in its ''Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report'' newsletter of unusual clusters of ''

pneumocystis pneumonia ''Pneumocystis'' pneumonia (PCP), also known as ''Pneumocystis jirovecii'' pneumonia (PJP), is a form of pneumonia that is caused by the yeast-like fungus '' Pneumocystis jirovecii''. ''Pneumocystis'' specimens are commonly found in the lungs o ...

'' (PCP) caused by a form of '' pneumocystis carinii'' (now recognized as a distinct species titled ''pneumocystis jirovecii''). The report looked specifically at five homosexual men in the Los Angeles area. Publications such as the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' gave the CDC's findings news coverage. June 1981 additionally saw the first AIDS patient getting received into care under the aegis of the U.S.

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

(NIH). By August 1981, the CDC reported a full 108 cases of the new disease across America. On 27 July 1982, a meeting of gay community leaders and activists met in Washington D.C., with representatives from the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

(CDC) to pressure for a name change of the what was up till that point called GRID (gay-related immune deficiency). They proposed the term AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), as evidence by this point had made it clear that the virus was in no way limited to gay people.80 Days That Changed the World
TIME (2011-11-29). Retrieved on 2011-12-03. At this point the retrovirus itself had not yet been isolated. This would not happen till 1983, when it would initially be called by several names, including LAV and HTLV-III before being named

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

in 1986. 1982 also saw the first congressional hearing exploring the now renamed AIDS, called by Representative Henry Waxman of California. The CDC estimated at this point that tens of thousands would likely be affected by the disease. A change in terminology meant the proliferation of the new, CDC-coined name of ''Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome'' (AIDS). Mayor Diane Feinstein Cable Car

That same year, a group of New Yorkers (Nathan Fain, Larry Kramer, Larry Mass, Paul Popham, Paul Rapoport, and

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...

) officially established the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). An

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...

in the home of GMHC volunteer Rodger McFarlane, who later served as GMHC's first paid director, became the world's first AIDS hotline. It notably received over one hundred calls the first night. Besides functioning as a hub for social activism, GMHC established what are known as 'buddy programs' to provide people with AIDS with help during day-to-day events. Also in 1982, activists Michael Callen and Richard Berkowitz published '' How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach.'' In this short, pioneering work on what was now being called "safer sex", they described ways gay men could be sexual and affectionate while dramatically reducing the risk of contracting or spreading HIV. Both authors, gay men living with AIDS, set out the booklet as one of the first times men were advised to use

condoms A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condoms, also called male condoms, and internal (female) ...

and other barrier methods when having sexual relations with other men. In 1983, the GMHC sponsored a benefit performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which served as the first major fund-raising event for AIDS. That same year, the official AIDS Candlelight Memorial was held for the first time. The organization Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund filed the world's first AIDS discrimination suit, receiving assistance from the GMHC. In 1984,

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...

, then

mayor of San Francisco The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the Government of San Francisco, San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either appro ...

, declared the first " AIDS Awareness Week" event. Featuring the primary goal of educating staff and students from San Francisco Community College District, it involved informing people about causes, effects, and symptoms of AIDS as well as prevention methods. 1984 additionally saw the very first laboratory isolation of HIV, the breakthrough coming the separate research efforts of Dr.

Luc Montagnier Luc Montagnier ( , ; 18 August 1932 – 8 February 2022) was a French virologist and joint recipient, with and , of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV). He worked as a rese ...

in France and Dr.

in the U.S. By 1985, publications such as ''

Annals of Internal Medicine ''Annals of Internal Medicine'' is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world. ''Annals'' publishes content releva ...

'' warned that "even if all transmission of the virus were to stop immediately, the... syndrome would continue to be a major public health problem for the foreseeable future." That year additionally saw the rise to prominence of HIV/AIDS activist

Ryan White Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990) was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagn ...

, an Indiana teenager with AIDS who got barred from his school due to his status, and his life's work of speaking out publicly against AIDS stigma and discrimination. White eventually succumbed to the disease in 1990, dying at the age of eighteen. Aids Quilt

A form of HIV/AIDS activism that has received mainstream coverage has been the creation of and public showings of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Conceived in 1985 by activist

Cleve Jones Cleve Jones (born October 11, 1954) is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2020. In 1983 at the onset ...

during a candlelight march held in remembrance of the 1978 assassinations of San Francisco Supervisor

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised i ...

and Mayor George Moscone, the idea came about after Jones requested people write the names of loved ones who died due to AIDS-related causes on signs. Those were then taped to the old

San Francisco Federal Building The San Francisco Federal Building, formally the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, is an 18-story, building at the corner of Mission and 7th streets in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The federal building w ...

. The scene at the side of the building looked like an enormous patchwork

quilt A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of padding, batting or w ...

to Jones, and he felt inspired to try and make the concept into a reality. The quilt represented an inflection point within Jones' own life, as an openly gay man who had suffered from internalized homophobia and thoughts of suicide in his earlier years. The first public display of the project was at

San Francisco City Hall San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epito ...

in 1987. The most prominent HIV/AIDS activist group,

, got its start in 1987 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Larry Kramer spoke as part of a rotating series of speakers, and his well-attended, fiery speech focused on action to fight AIDS while condemning the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) group as not doing enough. Though a founder of GMHC, Kramer resigned due to his perceiving of the organization as politically impotent. During the 1980s and 1990s, ACT UP focused on direct action aimed at changing public policy. In a time of political inaction on AIDS, during the silence of the Reagan administration, the group became increasingly confrontational as larger numbers of gay men, in particular, were dying. The group also formed treatment action groups to put medical research and treatment into the hands of patient activists, as many hospitals were not treating People with AIDS, or not offering drug trials to those who wanted access. Many demonstrations were aimed at granting compassionate release of experimental treatments that the FDA was holding up in what ACT UP felt was excessive testing during a time of emergency. For example, the group's 11 October 1988 protest picked up national media coverage as it successfully shut down the headquarters of the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) for a day. "Hey, hey, FDA, how many people have you killed today?" chanted a crowd estimated by ACT UP at between 1,100 and 1,500 people. The protesters additionally hoisted a black banner that simply read "Federal Death Administration" as well as hoisting an

of then President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' later called it one of the most successful demonstrations during the time of the AIDS crisis. That same year, funding for national, regional, and community-based organizations to fight HIV/AIDS began. (Comprehensive school-based education to begin teaching the young about the disease had started in 1987). Other changes due to activist pressure at the end of the 1980s were a reversal in the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

's decision making such that preventing discrimination against HIV patients became government policy plus a lowering of the price of

AZT Zidovudine (ZDV), also known as azidothymidine (AZT), was the first antiretroviral medication used to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. It is generally recommended for use in combination with other antiretrovirals. It may be used to prevent vertica ...

by 20%, the drug being one of the first effective treatments against HIV but having prohibitively massive costs at first. The former policy change became a matter of federal law in 1990 when President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

signed the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

(ADA). In terms of disease prevalence more generally, AIDS incidence increased rapidly through the 1980s only to peak in the early 1990s and subsequently decline into the dawn of the 21st century. Activism meant by the early 1990s the FDA started a process known as "accelerated approval" that got experimental yet promising drugs to individuals with AIDS faster. In 2001, a CDC analysis of cases from 1981 through 2000 found that a full 774,467 persons had been reported with AIDS in the U.S. Of that total, 448,060 had died compared to 3542 persons with unknown vital status. The study's findings of 322,865 individuals living with AIDS were the highest ever reported."HIV and AIDS --- United States, 1981—2000"
''MMWR Weekly''. 1 June 2001 / 50(21); 430–434. Retrieved 4 January 2018. UNAIDS data collected in 2007 stated that 0.6% of adults in the U.S. had HIV in comparison to 0.4% of Canadian adults. Global Village at 2012 International AIDS Conference

Global Village at 2012 International AIDS Conference

In the 2000's, the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

issued a report finding that laws making HIV transmission a criminal offense do little to influence behavior while many "run counter to scientific evidence about routes of HIV transmission and effective measures of HIV prevention." In October 2018

California Governor The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, th ...

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

signed a bill into law that made knowingly exposing a sexual partner to HIV into a misdemeanor crime instead of a felony.

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

labeled the change as "a legal and cultural milestone for the way Americans perceive HIV and AIDS." The activist organization

Treatment Action Group Treatment Action Group (TAG) is a U.S.-based organization that has been prominent within the movement of HIV/AIDS activism. Being formed in 1991, it has possessed the goals of working with worldwide efforts to increase research on treatments for HI ...

((TAG) initially a subset of ACT UP New York) celebrated a victory in 2018 as well given that global spending on fighting

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

hit a record high for 2017 compared to previous years. From 2016 to 2017, research spending jumped to $772 million from $726 million. TAG has spent years upon years pushing for better treatment of tuberculosis while taking careful note of the disease's status as a frequent problem for individuals with AIDS. In Canada, activism took a very similar form as in the United States and Europe. A notable figure includes Manitoba based activist Albert McLeod, who has done extensive research on sociodemographic factors in HIV/AIDS rates in Indigenous communities across Canada, of note recognizing that Indigenous communities in Canada see a 3.5 times higher rate of HIV/AIDS when contrasted with other ethnic groups. McLeod is also involved in several Indigenous based organizations working for equity in healthcare access especially addressing HIV/AIDS care, including Communities, Alliances, and Networks also known as CAAN and the Nichiwakan Native Gay Society, recognized as one of the first Indigenous-Queer groups to be formed in Canada.

History of anti-disease activism in Europe

Cases of mysterious deaths in Europe during the early 1980s caused the proliferation of discrimination, fear, and stigma like in other areas. The

(WHO) has remarked in a statement that "AIDS was—and in absolute, global terms still is—a stinging challenge to the values of modernity received, for better or worse, from Europe's Age of Enlightenment... ince fluent, confident, gender-progressive, often social-democratic welfare states awoke, in the early 1980s, to an uncomfortable reminder of their human frailty." On example of the extreme reactions by some politicians is far-right French figure

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025), commonly known as Jean-Marie Le Pen (), was a French politician, lawyer and activist. He founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party and served as the party's presi ...

and his proposal of confining people with HIV/AIDS in prison-like facilities. European politics have frequently involved championing the fight against HIV/AIDS as a human rights issue. Health care itself is also fundamentally seen as a matter of fundamental rights, requiring major government investment and regulation. Despite this, social changes have taken place since the world economic recession of the late 2000s that have shifted budgets' focus toward cost containment and increased efficiency. In 1987,

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

, opened the UK's first purpose built HIV/AIDS unit intended exclusively for patients infected with the disease, at London Middlesex Hospital. In front of the media, Princess Diana shook the hand of a man with AIDS to demonstrate that it was safe to do so. She later stated, "HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it." One of the world's most important anti-disease events got started in central Europe. Held yearly on 1 December, World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter. The two public information officers worked for the Global Programme on AIDS at the

in Geneva, Switzerland. Bunn later commented to NPR about his motivations at the time, stating that:

History of anti-disease activism in South America

The regions of Latin America and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

contains a significantly large number of HIV cases. According to data from

, this goes all the way up to two million people living with the disease. HIV/AIDS activism has taken place under the atmosphere of pervasive

media bias Media bias occurs when journalists and news producers show bias in how they report and cover news. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening of the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an ...

against those diagnosed, particularly given the use of language such as "contagion" and "infection" in non-medical contexts. According to Luis E. Soto-Ramírez of ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'': As with Africa, HIV prevalence differs notably from country to country inside Latin America and the Caribbean, although the values don't vary to the extent as in between African nations. For example, UNAIDS research in 2007 found that 3.0% of adults in the Bahamas had been inflected in comparison to the values of 1.1% in the Dominican Republic and 0.1% in Cuba. When looking at new cases of infection, reporting presented at the International AIDS Conference held within

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, South Africa in 2016 stated that only Chile and Uruguay managed to achieve a small reduction. Nations such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador among others had data showing worsening trends.

Analysis of anti-disease activism

A 2018 report published by '' MD'' found that while efforts by

"arguably hastened the science, treatments and services for persons with HIV/AIDS", there still remained "found long-term effects on the activists" such as "concurrent posttraumatic stress responses and posttraumatic growth that are distinct from the experiences of persons affected by the illness but not involved with the campaign." However, the activists expressed gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of a close, positively-focused community. The U.S.

(NIH) has stated as an organization that the "pressure of activists demanding early access to promising AIDS treatments" prompted fundamental changes within it. Activists managed to bust "the 'ivory tower' mentality wide open and forever" altered the specific paths "the search for treatments at NIH is conducted". The organization has credited the activists both with pushing to have drugs in the experimental stage more widely available for patients as well as more broadly having made stopping AIDS a systematic research priority.

References

External links

"Why We Fight: Remembering AIDS Activism""AIDS 2018: What has happened to AIDS activism?"
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