April 2002
20 Years of HIV May -- Food for Thought

This time line is a condensed version of one produced by Terri Wilder.

1981 The first case of GRID, later referred to as AIDS, is reported. Five women were among those diagnosed.

1982 Mary Richards Johnstone was the first woman that was noted to have gotten AIDS from receiving blood during a surgery.

1983 Barbara Fabian Baird, of the National Institute of Health becomes the first nurse to conduct AIDS research. The Women’s AIDS Network is established.

1984 Dr. Robert Gallo finds the cause of AIDS. The development of a blood test to identify the virus is developed. Caitlin Ryan, becomes the first executive director of "AID Atlanta" the oldest AIDS service organization in the southwest.

1985 The American Foundation for AIDS Research is founded. San Francisco AIDS Foundation produces their first brochure about Women and AIDS. For the first time a woman is admitted to the AIDS ward at San Francisco General Hospital. The first time a lawsuit is filled on behalf of a woman who got AIDS from infected blood received during a surgery.

1986 The first book on AIDS policy, "A Public Health Challenge" was written and distributed to the members of Congress, governors, mayors and other key public officials. The book is the basis for many of the recommendations of the first Presidential Commission on AIDS.

1987 ACT-UP begins. Only women using birth control pills or IUDs are allowed in trials. The trial inclusion/exclusion criteria read: "NO pregnant women and no non-pregnant women allowed." Princess Diana helps to change attitudes toward people with AIDS by showing no fear.

1988 Women are the fastest growing HIV+ population. The Pediatric AIDS Foundation is founded.

1989 BABES is founded by HIV+ women in Seattle, WA under the philosophy that HIV+ women are uniquely qualified to understand and encourage one another.

1990 The first National Women and AIDS Conference is held. ACT-UP spearheads a massive protest at the CDC to expand the AIDS definition to include women specific diseases.

1991 Women Alive is founded in LA by women living with HIV. Mother’s voices, a group started by women who had lost children to AIDS was founded.

1992 CDC expands the definition of AIDS to include: bacterial pneumonia, TB and stage III cervical cancer.

1993 The "Female condom" is approved. Kristine Gebbie is appointed director of the Office of National AIDS Policy.

1994. The ACTG 076 study finds that pregnant women taking AZT reduce the risk of HIV transmission to their unborn child by two-thirds.

1995 Dr. Alexandra M. Levin is appointed to the Presidential HIV/AIDS Advisory Council.

1996 The incidence of women diagnosed with AIDS begins to decline because of antiretroviral therapy.

1997 Women account for more than half of the HIV cases worldwide. Mother Teresa plans to start a New AIDS ministry in the U.S. Her religious order currently runs five AIDS hospice centers.

1998 A cumulative total of 109,311 Females have been diagnosed with AIDS in the U.S.

1999 The National Conference on women and HIV was held in LA. This event was the largest gathering of HIV+ women in history. Worldwide over a million women died of AIDS, the highest number in a single year.

2000 Coretta Scott King launches the AIDS memorial quilt. The FDA passes the Clinical Hold Rule.

This dramatically increases the opportunity for women to take advantage of drug trails and other Treatment research. 2001 The Dept. of Health an Human Services releases "A Guide to the Clinical Care of Women with HIV", the first manual specifically written about the medical care of HIV+ women.

Contact Erica at BABES at 720-5566 if you would like the complete "Twenty Years of Women Living With HIV" time line.

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