HIV/AIDS: Key Milestones 40 Years On
Key milestones since the first identified case of HIV/AIDS
We’re only a few months past the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, but June 2021 marked the 40-year anniversary of another global epidemic – HIV/AIDS. It is a great privilege to look back at how far science and medicine have come over the decades. But, when we take a step back, we can see that the world’s response to COVID-19 was vastly different to its initial reaction to HIV/AIDS; the latter was marked with fear, prejudice, and blatant ignorance that prevented early and decisive action.
Though our understanding may be significantly better than it was 40 years ago, the fight is far from over – from the absence of an approved vaccine to the lingering presence of stigma, there is work to be done in all corners of the scientific community.
Below, we take a look at the key milestones from the past few decades of our understanding and battle against HIV and AIDS.
During my undergraduate degree in psychology and Master’s in neuroimaging for clinical and cognitive neuroscience, I realized the tasks my classmates found tedious – writing essays, editing, proofreading – were the ones that gave me the greatest satisfaction. I quickly gathered that rambling on about science in the bar wasn’t exactly riveting for my non-scientist friends, so my thoughts turned to a career in science writing. At Texere, I get to craft science into stories, interact with international experts, and engage with readers who love science just as much as I do.
