National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities
Building Leadership in Communities of Color to Address HIV/AIDS
NMAC's First Full Decade of Service
1996-1997
1996
AIDS research remains promising, with Gallo's research on how chemokines can block HIV and halt the progression of AIDS identified by Science Magazine as one of the year's most important scientific breakthroughs.
The FDA approves new AIDS drugs, including: Nevirapine (Viramune); Ritonavir (Norvir); and Indinavir (Crixivan).
At the International AIDS Conference, in Vancouver, the next year, combination antiretroviral therapy is recommended as treatment for PLWH/As.
During the International AIDS Conference, in Vancouver, Canada, NMAC’s Director of Research and Treatment Advocacy, Moisés Agosto, was honored for his tireless dedication to the fight against AIDS. Agosto was featured in the Patti Labelle “Live Long Sugar” campaign.
The viral load test which determines the amount of HIV present in a person’s blood, is approved by the FDA. Test results can be used to determine the best course of treatment.
The final National Skills Building Conference takes place.
NMAC holds a successful fundraiser, “Love at First Glance,” featuring comedian Margaret Cho.
AIDS policy director, Patricia Flemming, announces the Clinton administration’s new plan to combat HIV/AIDS, which calls for the creation of vaccine to prevent new infections; improving access to care; combating HIV/AIDS-related stigma; supporting international AIDS initiatives; and ensuring scientific breakthroughs are translated into improved care and treatment.
Dr. David Ho advocates a hit hard, hit early approach to HIV infection that involves placing HIV positive patients in aggressive treatment regiments earlier.
Triple combination therapy, using three antiretroviral medications in combination becomes the new standard of HIV care.
NMAC helps facilitate the HIV Prevention Community Planning Co-Chairs Meeting, which concentrates on the theme, The Power of Prevention.
1997
NMAC celebrates its tenth anniversary, an incredible
milestone for an agency officially begun in a trailer in Las Vegas. The agency held a dinner to honor
its anniversary, producing a book in memory of those lost to AIDS. One of those
was Sergio Mendoza, an NMAC employee who, Paul Kawata described as:
An ex-con, an ex-addict, and a gay Latino man living with AIDS. He fit perfectly into the NMAC family. Over the years at NMAC, Sergio became more than his labels; he became an integral part of our team.
The National Skills Building Conference expands to become USCA, which is held for the first time in Miami, FL. The theme focuses on Navigating Change; featured speakers include Phil Donahue and Dr. David Ho, named Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1996 and discoverer of protease inhibitors.
NMAC holds the first North American Treatment AIDS Action Forum (NATAF) and facilitates the first Women of Color AIDS meeting, Empowerment: A Strategy for HIV Prevention and Access to Care among Women of Color,” in Houston, TX.
February 27, 1997
The federal government announces that AIDS-related deaths have dropped 13 percent during the first few months of of 1996, the first significant drop in the epidemic's history. Unfortunately, HIV infections were still on the rise.
A September 2 article in the Washington Post reported:
The most recent estimate of the number of Americans infected (with HIV), 750,000, is only half the total that government officials used to cite over a decade ago, at a time when experts believed that as many as 1.5 million people carried the virus.
