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Timeline: AIDS Epidemic
Key events, important people, activism and breakthroughs
by David Johnson and Shmuel Ross
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| 1996 |
- Patients are often able to delay the onset of full-blown AIDS by taking a combination of as many as 60 different drugs called an AIDS "cocktail"
AIDS is 8th leading cause of death in U.S.
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| 1997 |
- Worldwide death toll climbs to 6.5 million (since mid-1970s)
U.S. government spends $4.5 billion on AIDS/HIV treatment
AIDS-related illnesses drop to the fifth leading cause of death for adults 25-44 years old
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| 1998 |
- Clinical trials begin for AIDS vaccine, AIDSVAX, the only one of 40 AIDS vaccines developed since 1987, that is considered promising enough to widely test on human volunteers
U.S. AIDS deaths drop to 17,000 per year, due to drug therapies; AIDS drops to 14th leading cause of death in U.S.
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| 1999 |
- AIDS cases in Russia rise by one-third, to 360,000
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that AIDS has caused the life expectancy in Southern Africa to drop from 59 years in the early 1990s to 45 years after 2005
AIDS infections skyrocket in Southeast Asia
U.S. government spends $6.9 billion on AIDS/HIV treatment
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| 2000 |
- Officials note the spread of drug-resistant strains of HIV
21.8 million people have died of AIDS since the late 1970s; infections rise in Eastern Europe, Russia, India, and Southeast Asia
10% of the population between the ages of 15 and 49 has HIV/AIDS in 16 African countries, while in 7 African countries, infection rates reach 20%
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| 2001 |
- Drug companies begin offering AIDS drugs to poor countries at a discount
An estimated $6.9 billion is spent in the U.S. on the treatment of AIDS patients
The UN estimates that, around the world during 2001, there were 3 million deaths from AIDS, of which 2.3 million were in Sub-Saharan Africa. There were 5 million new infections, bringing the total to 40 million infected; and Africa has the most infected (more than 16 million) followed by South and Southeast Asia (more than 6 million).
AIDS is spreading most rapidly in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, with 250,000 new infections in 2001
AIDS has lowered the life expectancy in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, and Swaziland by 20 years, to under 40 years of age
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| 2002 |
- HIV is the leading cause of death worldwide for those 15–59
FDA approves the first rapid finger-prick AIDS test
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| 2003 |
- President Bush announces PEPFAR, a $15-billion, 5-year plan to combat AIDS in African and Carribean nations
WHO announces the "3 by 5" initiative, aiming to start providing AIDS drugs to 3 million people in poor countries by 2005
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| 2004 |
- AIDS spreads rapidly in Russia and eastern Europe; according to a UN survey, almost 1% of Russians are HIV-positive
FDA approves a saliva-based AIDS test
A study finds that the rate of HIV prevalence in Uganda has dropped 70% since the early 1990s, due to local prevention efforts
95% of those with AIDS live in the developing world
From 1981 through the end of 2004, more than 20 million people have died of AIDS
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| 2005 |
- FDA begins approving generic AIDS drugs, enabling U.S.-funded programs to provide more cost-effective treatment to poorer nations
Several African nations insist on medication approved by WHO; in response, FDA and WHO agree to share information on generic drugs to expedite their approval
Russian president Putin promised to increase AIDS funding from $5 million in 2005 to at least $100 million in 2006
AZT's patent expires, and FDA approves several generic versions
The number of people living with HIV in 2005 reached its highest level ever—an estimated 40.3 million people, nearly half of them women.
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| 2006 |
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June 5 marks the 25th anniversary of the first journal article (in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) about what would become identified as AIDS, reporting on a set of unusual pneumonia-related deaths among five homosexual men.
A UN report issued the week before has both good news and bad news.
Good news: Many countries have achieved targets set in 2001, reducing the number of new infections and providing antiretroviral therapy to more victims. HIV testing, counseling, and education are all up. In many sub-Saharan countries, more young teens are staying abstinent, and condom use is increasing. And with 126 nations reporting, investigators have more data than ever.
Bad news: Goals for youth education and prevention services aren’t being met, those most at risk for AIDS are often not reached, many countries fell far short of all goals, and social issues underlying the spread of AIDS are being ignored.
In short, "A quarter century into the epidemic, the global AIDS response stands at a crossroads. For the first time ever the world possesses the means to begin to reverse the epidemic. But success will require unprecedented willingness on the part of all actors in the global response to fulfil their potential, to embrace new ways of working with each other, and to . . . sustain the response over the long term."
July 2006: The FDA approves the first single-pill, once-a-day AIDS treatment, thereby allowing patients to manage their disease without a complicated regimen of drugs that must be strictly followed to be effective. The pill, called Atripla, is considered an enormous breakthrough in AIDS treatment, and will help prevent the disease from mutating into drug-resistant strains, which occurs when drugs are not taken regularly. Two rival drug companies cooperated in creating the drug.
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| 2007 |
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The World Health Organization revises their figures of the number of people living with AIDS worldwide. In their December 2007 report, the WHO says the number has fallen from 39.5 million to 33.2 million in one year, suggesting that the biggest reason for the 16% decline was improved data collection and more accurate estimates in India and five sub-Saharan African countries.
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Fact Monster™ Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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