NewStats: 3,262,251 , 8,176,608 topics. Date: Sunday, 01 June 2025 at 03:15 PM 533j5h

Forty years ago, on June 5, 1981, the first cases of what became known as AIDS were reported in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the U.S. national public health agency, reported, “Five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (P) among previously healthy young men in Los Angeles,” in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

All were “homosexuals”. Two had died. The cases suggested, “a disease acquired through sexual ”.

Now at the midpoint of the almost forgotten HIV/AIDS pandemic, 77.5 million people have caught HIV, according to UNAIDS. Of those, 34.7 million have died of AIDS-related illnesses.

We must that AIDS is not over. Where is the rage?

HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS if untreated, continues to mostly affect the poor, the marginalised and those with limited access to healthcare worldwide.

Women continue to be disproportionately affected in many parts of the world, often due to their unequal socioeconomic status. Last year, women and girls ed for 63% of new cases in sub-Saharan Africa. The criminalisation of gay sex in 68 countries negatively affects access testing and treatment.

Out of the 37.6 million people living with HIV today, 27% are at risk of dying unnecessarily, as they are still unable to access life-saving medication. These drugs, when taken regularly, enable people to live long, healthy lives and also stop them ing on HIV to anyone else.

When these figures are so unimaginably huge and happening elsewhere in the world, we can easily forget to differentiate each death as an individual who leaves behind family, friends, lovers and communities.

The world is failing miserably.

HIV/AIDS continues to show up the world’s brutal health inequalities, in the racism, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny that prevails.

It shamefully reveals how the much-needed battle in the West in the 1980s and 1990s was driven by and focused on the then-dehumanised urban, dying gay men, but never moved on.

We in the West abandoned the fight, exhausted, after we won what we had to for ourselves.

Yet, today, millions still live without hope. Just as we and our loved ones did, before the miraculous awakening of 1996 when a new cocktail of drugs enabled the almost-dead to walk again.

This is why ing our experiences of HIV/AIDS in the West and respectfully commemorating those who died, who were so stigmatised and abused, is so vital.

If we forget the horrors of AIDS and the deaths, which were nearly always terrible, we also are denying our histories. We are saying that our dehumanisation, in what was a horribly homophobic time, is not shocking enough. And in turn we continue the process of our own dehumanisation.

Out of that era came much good too. There was community, based on solidarity and strength. The struggle forced Western nations to view our lives equally. We can celebrate that.

We have had enough time to rest and recover. So now we must fight on.

You may feel helpless, but there are things we can all do. Everyone can be an activist in their own way. You do not need to throw HIV-positive blood over the walls of drug companies and places of worship.

You can be an ally. You can learn about the new reality of HIV today. You can stand up against the brutal stigmatisation of people living with HIV everywhere. You can share articles on social media to keep the issue in the public’s consciousness. You can ensure we never forget our collective histories. You can projects that are working towards ending AIDS worldwide.

Let us all rise up and end the work we started as a community. It begins with you. AIDS ends with us.

SOURCE

The first cases of AIDS were reported in 1981 – all among gay men in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

By the end of the year, there were 337 reported cases of what was then known as “gay-related immune deficiency”. 130 people had died.

Four years later, there was at least one reported AIDS case in every region of the world. By the end of 1985, there were over 20,000 cases globally – the majority in the U.S.

One of the victims was actor Rock Hudson – the first celebrity death of AIDS-related causes.

Also in 1987, the American FDA approved the anti-HIV drug AZT – the first treatment for HIV.

Simultaneously, activist group @actupny was set up, with Larry Kramer as a founding member. In 1989 they chained themselves to the NYSE, protesting AZT's high price �.

Eventually, new treatments became available. In 1995, highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) was introduced.

It immediately brought down death rates dramatically – at least in higher-income countries. Africa and Asia were now the regions struggling with most new cases.

Another celebrity who brought attention to HIV/AIDS was Princess Diana �

When she opened the first HIV ward in a British hospital in 1987, she was famously photographed holding hands with an AIDS patient, challenging the unfounded fear of transmission through casual .

Yet Buhari's problem is Twitter

God...

.

OK

Who get HIV has no worry if you get cancer then you gone for good.


HIV is like malaria in Africa 69% have it when dey go to the hospital the doctor just said u have fever and prescribe drugs for u that all


On my 20th crack today

Very interesting article.... thanks for sharing

G

Ok
Malaria and typhoid wey him meet, dem don over?


Lol, no mind me. Na joke o.
Commenting from United States (powered by VPN)

We know...it's being effectively managed now.

Since 1981, 34.7 million people have died from AIDS-related causes.

But where are we today? In 2020:

� 37.6 million people globally were living with HIV

� 1.5 million people became newly infected with HIV

� 73% of all people living with HIV were accessing treatment

Who get Aids for America better normal person for Nigeria now o

Julianaa:
Yet Buhari's problem is Twitter

This comment doesn't add up. Is Buhari a pharmacologist or a virologist? In fact, is he a health worker?

It's not over

HIV got nothing on me.

I was a really careless being. My addiction to fat bouncy bum bum would have led me to an early grave. Cuz the fatter the bum bum, the better.

The first time I went for an HIV test, I thought I'd die of heart attack cuz I kept panting. Suspicion of Bimbo infecting me left me restless for weeks. I had to muster courage and go for the test.

It came out negative. Did I change my ways? The spirit is willing but the flesh no send am.

Julianaa:
Yet Buhari's problem is Twitter

Move on!

Twitter has been fvcked by Buhari

Until it's over

Sex control Diseases

Same with STD.


MDG

Population reduction strategy

And some people will argue to the Moon that homosexuality (especially in men) is not a sickness.

Ok

God we help us through amen

Yet buhari issue is Twitter stupid man and his fellow cabas

God nor go let me see am. And till now no vaccines.

I had bumped into some guys that were discussing about women. The other man was like he would ffuck the girl raw because she's very pretty.

The other guy told him that girls such as that he had seen were disease carriers. He bull shit his friend's advise.

She get big yash, she get big ukwu, she get sexy lips, her yash dey hot...

Na Anti retrieval dey boost their body system so that they would look healthy just like all those fowls that are very big.

You people should use your head. Ladies especially.

R.I.P to all those that have died as a result of this diseases. Stay safe all

fergie001:
Another celebrity who brought attention to HIV/AIDS was Princess Diana �

When she opened the first HIV ward in a British hospital in 1987, she was famously photographed holding hands with an AIDS patient, challenging the unfounded fear of transmission through casual .

Shut your fuckin mouth there.

When I brought PEP to this country shebi una been talk say I be mumu