Howard Grossman, executive director of the American
Academy of HIV Medicine, released the following
statement on Monday to mark the 25th anniversary
of the beginning of the global AIDS pandemic:
Today's
25th anniversary of the first reported AIDS cases is a day
of somber reflection. We who were health care
providers on that day a quarter of a century ago could
have never imagined the sudden, radical shift our
lives would take, whether we wanted to or not. Many of us
who were just embarking on our medical careers in
private practice or in public health found ourselves
steeped in the utter horror of a disease we knew
absolutely nothing about--a disease that began
claiming the lives of our patients, our friends, and
our families--swiftly and painfully. We also
found ourselves in the middle of a cultural, moral and
political battleground that ruthlessly exploited
stereotypes and fears, as the stigma of HIV/AIDS took
hold of the country's consciousness just like the
virus itself claims the immune system.
The days and
years that followed June 5, 1981, were dark times for those
who were living with the disease, and for those of us who
were caring for them. Those of us who didn't
burn out from the daily patient death counts in our
practices hung on to some spark of hope in the middle of our
professional and personal despair, as a community slowly,
but effectively, began to unite, rise up and demand
action.
Sick of feeling
as helpless and as hopeless as our patients, some health
care professionals joined them, calling for what we as their
care providers knew firsthand they needed to live:
More research for a cure. Better drug therapies.
Improved access to care and treatment.
We who dedicated
our lives to healing needed these things as much as our
patients did--so we could serve them to the best of
our ability.
The advent of
highly active antiretroviral therapy in the mid 1990s got
us on another emotional roller-coaster ride: We had the
euphoric revelation that on HAART, our patients with
HIV/AIDS were no longer dying in mass numbers. In
fact, some were actually getting better. Grueling side
effects like nausea, diarrhea, and fatigue had many who were
living longer asking themselves if it was worth it.
Complicated drug
delivery schedules with different meds at different
times under different conditions made staying healthy
annoying and complicated. Development of medications
with less complicated delivery schedules made taking
meds easier. People are living longer with more active
lives. Some develop elevated lipids and cholesterol, some
are developing resistance, and, shockingly, some still
aren't getting the medicine they need at all.
It is a ride that, when added to the exhausting
devastation of HIV's first 15 years, has often left
HIV care providers wondering: What exactly is up and
what exactly is down?
Now, on top of
the caring, and the learning, and the advocating, we who
were health care providers at HIV's beginning need to
take on one more responsibility: expanding. We must
expand the numbers of knowledgeable, skilled
specialists in HIV care. HIV isn't going anywhere. It
touches every corner of the world. Advances made to
stall or eliminate it have yielded complicated
clinical, social and economic consequences. There is
much work to do, and more are needed to help do it.
We can't
give up now! As we reflect on this 25th anniversary of AIDS,
AAHIVM's leaders and members honor those who have
died with the disease, those who have lived with the
disease and those who have cared for people with the
disease. We remain as dedicated as ever to the goals we
articulated at our inception more than six years ago:
advancing excellence in HIV care, and helping those we
serve to gain access to, and to receive, the best of
care and the best of us. (The Advocate)
