1994-1995
1994
The CDC introduces the HIV community planning process for
work with health departments, which was significant for communities of color.
NMAC provides technical assistance.
The National Skills Building Conference, in Atlanta, GA,
brings together 2500 people and explores the theme, Yesterday's Dream -
Tomorrow's Vision.
NMAC launches the Challenges of HIV/AIDS for Women of Color and
Their Families initiative to address the devastating impact of the epidemic
among women of color.
The FDA approves d4T (Zerit), a nucleoside reverse
transcriptase inhibitor for use in the United States.
NMAC produces the 11th International AIDS Candlelight
Memorial and Mobilization event in Washington,
DC, on May 22. The agency also helps convene
the HIV Prevention Community Planning Co-Chairs Meeting.
In September, NMAC launches a bilingual social marketing
campaign called Live Long Sugar, featuring singing legend and honorary NMAC
board chair, Patti LaBelle. Click here to view the PSA. The campaign, produced in Spanish and English,
targeted communities of color and encouraged preventative therapy for AIDS
related pneumonia.
The International AIDS Conference convened for the first
time Asia that year, in Japan.
Meeting organizers announced that the conference would be held every other
year.
The CDC announces that HIV/AIDS is the number one
killer of men and women in the US
aged 25-44.
1995
NMAC moves into its new headquarters - the transformation of
the refurbished building is nothing less than extraordinary. NMAC celebrates the opening of the building with an event at
the Lincoln Center,
in Washington, DC.
NMAC continues exploiting new technologies
to better serve its constituents, and launches its first website.
The agency holds a successful meeting and fundraiser for
its grassroots advocacy program, Our Place at the Table, from May 22-23, at
the National Press Club,
in Washington,
DC.
The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) and its
partners hold its first annual National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), on June 27.
At the end of the year, on December 7, the FDA
approved
a new class of drugs for treating HIV called protease inhibitors, including
Saquinavir. 3TC (lamivudine; Epivir); a nucleoside reverse transcriptase
inhibitor, also is approved. The drugs help HIV/AIDS become almost a manageable
chronic illness.
Olympic diving champion, Greg Louganis, announces he is
living with HIV.
The U.S. admits that Luc Montagnier, not Robert Gallo,
discovered HIV. Both scientists are considered "co-discoverers" of HIV.
HIV is cloned by researcher Flossie Wong-Staal.
US Senator Jesse Helms (NC) tells the New York Times that
AIDS funding should be reduced because homosexuals contract the disease through
their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct."
The CDC releases comprehensive HIV Health Education and Risk
Reduction Guidelines. The project is spearheaded by Susan E. Dietz, Chief of
the CDC's Training and Education Branch, Division of STD/HIV Prevention, National Center for Prevention Services. Tim Offutt, one of NMAC's founders contributes to this project as a
representative of the San Francisco Department of Health.
Project Inform founds the North American Treatment Action
Forum (previously the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Forum or NATAF), which
is now sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council.
From 1994-1995, 102,071 people died of AIDS, and another
143,070 were diagnosed with the disease. Notable persons who succumbed to AIDS
during this period include: Olympic British figure skater John Curry; writer
Randy Shilts; and Pediatric AIDS activist, Elizabeth Glaser. Television personality, Pedro Zamora, best known for being a
cast member on MTV's The Real World as well as actors Rick Aviles and Tony
Azito, also died. Eric "Easy E." Wright, of the Southern
California rap group NWA died of AIDS-related complications
only three weeks after his diagnosis.