1993
The federal government increases funding for AIDS by 25%,
helping organizations like NMAC build its infrastructure, programs and
services. NMAC receives a second cycle of CDC funding under its national
minority and AIDS programs to continue providing publications, the national
skills building conference, and individualized technical assistance and
capacity building services.
NMAC also begins a public policy program geared to women and
their families, as well as a program geared at training minority HIV/AIDS
activists how to lobby their representatives in Congress, called Our Place at
the Table.
The rap group, Salt N Pepa,
re-releases their hit, Let's Talk about Sex, as Let's Talk about AIDS to
raise money for NMAC.
NMAC hosts a Congressional dinner at the Madison building, featuring keynote speaker
was Donna Shalalah, Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The National Skills Building Conference is held in New Orleans, LA,
attracting 2,000 people - nearly double the number in 1992.
The FDA approves the female condom; but refused to conduct
tests on the product for use in anal sex.
Research demonstrates that AZT has little or no benefit when
taken early in the progression of the disease.
The CDC expands the definition of AIDS to include a person
with HIV infection and a CD4 cell count below 200, which the agency estimates
would increase the number of
reported AIDS cases by approximately 75%.
Divas Simply Singing!, a fundraiser headed by Broadway
legend and activist Sheryl Lee Ralph
(right at the 2006 USCA), is held in Washington,
DC to benefit NMAC.
The International AIDS Conference is held in Berlin, Germany.
NIH implements new guidelines requiring greater
representation of women and minorities in its clinical trials.
AIDS diagnoses in the US reaches an all-time high of 79,879.
There are45,733 deaths, including the 41,920 who died of AIDS in the US in 1993.
This included ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev; salsa singer Hector Lavoe; and
African-American tennis star, Arthur Ashe (left), who contracted HIV from tainted
blood products. NMAC also mourns the loss of Carlton Lee, Jr., Congressional
liaison officer for the National Commission on AIDS and a key figure in
Congressional approval of civil rights legislation affecting people with AIDS
and other disabilities.