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Soon there will be a generation that will not know AIDS
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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In July, the United States will host the world's largest AIDS conference for the first time in two decades. More than 20,000 people are expected to gather in Washington to attend. According to Eric Goosby, head of the U.S. HIV/AIDS program, significant progress has been made in this area over the past three decades.
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both said that there will soon be a generation that will not know AIDS.
“These claims are based on a series of scientific discoveries, mostly from U.S.-funded labs, that have changed the game,” says Eric Goosby. “The wave that once swept the world has become a wave that unites the world. Despair is giving way to hope.”
Recent advances in this field include the development of vaccines, microbicides and new treatments.
Goosby recalls that in the early 1980s, doctors were unable to combat this mysterious disease, and people were dying without receiving any help. Everything changed in the mid-1990s, when the first antiretroviral drugs appeared. However, in Africa, the situation was close to catastrophic.
"AIDS wiped out a whole generation there. The hospitals were overflowing with dying people. They weren't getting the drugs that were already available in the U.S. and Europe, so getting HIV was a death sentence," Goosby says.
According to Goosby, AIDS "threatened the very foundations of African society": "It killed people in the prime of life, when they should have been caring for their families. It created millions of orphans who could not go to school."
The disease has seriously weakened the economies of many countries, leaving them stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty.
Today, thanks to the availability of many medications, patients have a chance to live.
“Ten years ago, almost no one in Africa was on treatment,” said Eric Goosby. “Today, 6.6 million people are on antiretroviral therapy. The vast majority of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.” All of this is thanks in large part to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program begun under President George W. Bush and continued under President Obama.
“The U.S. contribution to the fight against the epidemic cannot be overstated,” says Goosby. “Through the PEPFAR program, the U.S. supported the treatment of almost 4 million people last year alone. In 2008, that number was 1.7 million, which shows that the program is constantly expanding despite the fact that we are experiencing serious budget problems.”
Last year, PEPFAR helped provide 660,000 women with drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. In 2011, PEPFAR helped provide 40 million people with testing and medical advice.
Together with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, PEPFAR funds numerous programs in developing countries.
Goosby is confident that there is a chance that an AIDS-free generation will soon emerge.
“We know what needs to be done to end this epidemic,” he says. “Hope is replacing despair.”
The last time the International AIDS Conference was held was in 1990 in San Francisco. The reason for such a long time gap was the ban on entry into the United States of HIV-infected foreigners. The first steps to lift this ban were taken by President George W. Bush, and it was completely lifted when President Barack Obama took office.
The 19th International AIDS Conference will be held from 22 to 27 July.
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