The History of AIDS

1981. Without being able to establish an accurate diagnosis, physicians encountered cases as early as the 1970s. In June 1981, an American journal reported that a rare disease had damaged the immune system of five homosexual men. The disease was later observed in women. Similar symptoms appeared in Europe and in Africa at the same time. Patients experienced dramatic weight loss. The disease, known as “slim disease”, was the subject of a survey in Uganda.

1982. The rapid spread of the disease was not understood. As many women as men were infected, it became obvious that the disease could also be transmitted through heterosexual relations. The term “AIDS” was adopted.

1983. Luc Montagnier (Institut Pasteur, France) and Robert Gallo (National Institutes of Health, United States) identified HIV as the cause of AIDS. Transmission took place through blood and sperm. Cases were reported across the globe. But scientists were still far from imagining that the disease would become one of the most lethal pandemics known. Very little information was available. People living with AIDS were victims of discrimination. They died in silence, in secret.

1981-1991. In North America, then in Europe, Latin America and in the rest of the world, movements raised awareness of the problem: How to care for people living with HIV? They mobilized resources for research into new treatments. 1985: First international AIDS conference. 1987: The United Nations General Assembly looked at the issue for the first time.

1991. A collective, the Visual Aids Artists Caucus, created the red ribbon, a universal symbol of compassion and solidarity toward HIV/AIDS victims. They took inspiration from the yellow ribbons given to US soldiers during the Gulf war. The color was chosen as a reference to blood, and also the idea of passion – not just anger, but love too.

1996. Setting up of the United Nations HIV/AIDS program (UNAIDS).

2000-2002. From the end of the 1990s, experts were able to prevent and treat AIDS. A better understanding of the link between the disease and poverty made it a priority on the international agenda. The Community measured the breadth of the damage caused by HIV/AIDS in certain regions of Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. It also measured the devastating consequences of a pandemic affecting the most populous countries on the planet. For over 90% of the populations affected, the new treatments were inaccessible. An international movement was launched in favor of reducing the cost of these drugs so they could be recognized as commercial products but in the public interest. International organizations and representatives of sufferers looked at how public expenditure could be increased to prevent the progress of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Between 2000 and 2001, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, called for the creation of a global fund aimed at channeling these additional resources. In 2002, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created. Three months later, the Board of the Global Fund approved a first series of subsidies allocated to 36 countries.