ICYMI - Today’s Anniversary of the First MMWR on AIDS
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Cross-posted from National Prevention Information Network, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
On this day in 1981, CDC published an MMWR on the first cases of what we now know as AIDS. A video of a CDC event to discuss and remember the early days of the epidemic is available online.
Today, because of landmark biomedical and scientific research advances, there is an unprecedented opportunity to stop HIV in the United States. The newly proposed federal initiative, Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America, seeks to do just this by reducing the number of new HIV infections in the United States by 75 percent within five years and then by at least 90 percent within 10 years. Most new HIV infections in the United States are highly concentrated in certain jurisdictions [PDF, 77KB], which is why the initiative calls for a rapid infusion of new resources, expertise, and technology into those parts of the country.
While remembering the past and reflecting on what still needs to be accomplished, there are short-term actions anyone can take right now.
- National HIV Testing Day is on June 27 and is a great opportunity to plan and register testing events.
- Throughout the year, partners use CDC’s research-based HIV campaigns to stop stigma and promote testing, prevention and treatment.
- CDC also maintains a database of effective interventions for on-the-ground activities.
More information on the history of HIV in America is also available from HIV.gov’s timeline of HIV and AIDS or NPIN’s HIV and AIDS Timeline.