Aids africa ribbon

HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Africa

  • HIV-2 Jump

    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

    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

    Epidemic Ignorance
    African doctors see a rise in HIV/AIDS infections, but Western scientists and doctors ignore the growing epidemic.
  • Finding The Source

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    Epicenter
    Southern Africa becomes the epicenter of what is now a global pandemic
  • Treatment

    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 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

    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

    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.