Brief History of the AIDS Pandemic

Scientists believe that HIV is a mutated form of SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus), which was passed from monkeys to humans in Africa at some point in the early 20^th century. There continues to be considerable debate about how exactly the virus jumped from one species to another, although we are unlikely to ever know for certain.

The virus is believed to have initially spread through the human population in Africa and from there onwards to Haiti in the Caribbean and then to the United States in the late nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies.

AIDS was first detected in 1981 when significant numbers of gay men began to fall seriously ill with the rarely seen cancer Kaposi’s Sarcoma and a virulent strain of pneumonia known as PCP. The condition from which so many were mysteriously dying was not named AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) until 1982.

HIV was first isolated by two groups of scientists working in France and the USA in 1983-4, but only came to be known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in 1986, by which time more that 30,000 cases of the disease had been recorded worldwide.

In 1987 AZT, the first drug developed to treat AIDS, was launched and governments around the world continued to raise awareness of the new disease.

World AIDS Day was established in 1988 and the red ribbon was first worn as a sign of AIDS awareness and support for those living with HIV in 1991.

By the end of 1990 it is estimated that a total of 8-10 million people were living with HIV and that 1 million had already died of AIDS.

Many break-throughs were made in the 1990s as combination therapy was developed and shown to have a dramatic impact on the health of people living with HIV. Prevention education and HIV/AIDS campaigns also began to take effect in countries such as Uganda, where HIV prevalence was reduced from 15% to 5%.

In 2007 UNAIDS estimated that there were 33 million people living with HIV.

Last updated April 2010