36 Years Later: The Opportunity To End AIDS As We Know It

In the years that followed, we witnessed the devastation and despair wrought by the epidemic among individuals, families, and communities in the United States. We watched hundreds and then thousands of men and women – many of them in the prime of their lives – die of AIDS-related causes. While most of these individuals knew their own days were numbered, they bravely and selflessly marched in the streets and fought on behalf of their friends to secure a response to the epidemic. Over the ensuing decades, thanks to a combination of scientific advances, political leadership, and community activism, the epidemic began to recede in the United States.