HIV/AIDS Pandemic (somewhere around 1980-2012):

          The HIV/AIDS Pandemic was a horrific tragedy to have occurred. First identified in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, HIV/AIDS has truly proven itself as a global pandemic, killing more than 36 million people since 1981. Currently there are between 31 and 35 million people living with HIV, the vast majority of those are in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 5% of the population is infected, roughly 21 million people. As awareness has grown, new treatments have been developed that make HIV far more manageable, and many of those infected go on to lead productive lives. Between 2005 and 2012 the annual global deaths from HIV/AIDS dropped from 2.2 million to 1.6 million. (MPH Online 3)

How do we know our knowledge is reliable?

          We know from countless studies, advancements in medical history, testing, rushing to find cures and hours upon hours of research. These are a few examples of how we were able to effectively target HIV and create medicine.” (Benn 3) “In 1987, the first antiretroviral medication for HIV, azidothymidine (AZT), became available.” (Benn 4) “In 1994, the FDA approved the first oral (and non-blood) HIV test. Two years later, it approved the first home testing kit and the first urine test. AIDS-related deaths and hospitalizations in developed countries began to decline sharply in 1995 thanks to new medications and the introduction of HAART. Still, by 1999, AIDS was the fourth biggest cause of death in the world and the leading cause of death in Africa. (Benn 5)

How did society respond to the shock?

          Society did not respond positively, rather they responded with panic, fear and hate. They started to call it GRID (Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease), a stigma was developed and targeted towards gay, bisexual and pansexual men, along with transgender people. Doctors, Nurses and Researchers took steps a few years later to state it wasn’t caused by being gay, but LGBTQ+ people were disproportionally affected by the disease. The efforts were successful as today not many LGBTQ+ people are being marginalized because of it, but there’s still a little bit of stigma in certain communities.

Citations:

History.com Editors. “History of Aids.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 July 2017, www.history.com/topics/1980s/history-of-aids.

“Outbreak: 10 of the Worst Pandemics in History.” MPH Online, 31 Aug. 2021, www.mphonline.org/worst-pandemics-in-history/.