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HIV-2 Jump
According to a Washington based study, the jump of HIV/AIDS from animals to humans was in the 1940's -
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
A "healthy" man walks into a hospital clinic to give blood for a Western-backed study of blood diseases. 25 years later, researchers studying the spreading of the AIDS epidemic, take a second look at the blood and discover that it contains HIV, which is the virus that causes AIDS -
Epidemic Ignorance
African doctors see a rise in HIV/AIDS infections, but Western scientists and doctors ignore the growing epidemic. -
Finding The Source
It becomes clear that the disease affects other population groups, when the first cases of PCP are reported in injecting drug users. -
Spread of HIV/AIDS
A 2 year old child in Africa who had received multiple blood transfusions died from infections related to AIDS. This case provided clearer evidence that AIDS was caused by an infectious agent. -
Official Case in Africa
The first official case of AIDS in South Africa is reported. A South African man contracted the virus while in California, USA. -
AIDS is Growing
Researchers who had visited Central Africa reported they had identified 26 patients with AIDS in Kigali, Rwanda, and 38 in Kinshasa, Zaire -
Death From AIDS Begins
First deaths from AIDS occur in South Africa. Knowledge of transmission routes changes again, when the first report appeared of the transmission of the virus from mother to child through breast feeding. -
AIDS Foundation
The AIDS Foundation of South Africa is established as an agency seeking to identify and develop initiatives, which reduce the impact of AIDS in under-resourced communities. -
Number of Infections Are Growing
The South African National Health Department reports that the number of recorded HIV infections had grown by 60% in the previous two years and was expected to double in 1993. -
Epicenter
Southern Africa becomes the epicenter of what is now a global pandemic -
Treatment
Botswana became the first African country to begin providing antiretroviral treatment through the public sector.
The WHO published guidelines for antiretroviral drugs for treating HIV infection in poor countries. They also released a list of 12 essential AIDS drugs. -
Death Continues
Death certificate data from South Africa reveals that the total number of reported deaths had increased by 57% between 1997 and 2002. South African Medical Research Council estimates that nearly two-thirds of deaths related to HIV had been wrongly attributed to other causes during 2000-2001. -
Change in Leaders
Thabo Mbeki resigns as South African President and his successor, Kgalema Motlanthe, appoints Barbara Hogan as Minister of Health. She immediately committed government to a concerted and decisive response to the epidemic. -
Citations
Iliffe, J. (2006). The african aids epidemic : a history. Ohio University Press.
Oppenheimer, G. M., & Bayer, R. (2007). Shattered dreams? : an oral history of the south african aids epidemic. Oxford University Press.
Fassin, D. (2007). When bodies remember : experiences and politics of aids in south africa (Ser. California series in public anthropology, 15). University of California Press.