UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

UNAIDS The First 10 Years10At the same time that these restrictive measures were being introduced, denial of the disease’sexistence was widespread. Piot recalled 10 waiting, sometime in the mid-1980s, with anotherAIDS expert, Frank Plummer from Canada’s University of Manitoba, for nearly a day in theoffice of the Kenyan Minister of Health while officials debated whether or not to expel thetwo because they had talked to reporters about AIDS in Africa. In 1985, Zaire refused to givethe New York Times journalist, Larry Altman, a visa to report on AIDS, and the Government ofKenya confiscated copies of the International Herald Tribune containing his article, as leadersdenied the severity of their AIDS problem. That same year, the Zambian press secretary deniedAltman’s request for an interview with President Kenneth Kaunda. A year later, however, Kaundaannounced that he had lost his son to AIDS; three years later he became one of the first Africanleaders to speak out on the need to combat the epidemic.The activistsThe AIDS activist movement, starting inNorth America, spread to Europe and LatinAmerica and eventually, over several years, toevery region of the world. Activists put therest of society to shame in the early years ofAIDS. Not only were they powerful advocatesfor more funding, better care and treatment,further research, and commitment fromleaders, they also pioneered ways of caringfor people with HIV. These included providingsupport through ‘buddying’, advising onnutrition and treating the opportunisticdiseases commonly experienced by positivepeople.New York’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis, founded in 1981, was the world’s first AIDS serviceorganization and is still a powerful force. The Terrence Higgins Trust was the first AIDSorganization in the United Kingdom (UK), established in 1983. In France, AIDES wasfounded in 1984 and is now one of the largest community-based organizations tacklingHIV. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) started in 1987 in the USA, and wascommitted to direct action against an indifferent (if not hostile) government; it campaignsfor better access to drugs and an end to AIDS-related discrimination. In Brazil, gay activistssuccessfully advocated the adoption of the first government AIDS programme in 1983 inSão Paolo State 11 .South African AIDSactivist and founder ofthe Treatment ActionCampaign, ZackieAchmat.UNAIDS/P.Virot10Altman L K (1999). ‘The doctor’s world: in Africa, a deadly silence about AIDS is lifting’. New York Times, 13 July.11Berkman A, Parker R et al. (2005). ‘A critical analysis of the Brazilian response to HIV/AIDS: lessons learnedfor controlling and mitigating the epidemic in developing countries’. American Journal of Public Health,95 (7), July.