HIV/AIDS: A Jump from Taboo to Tolerance

When HIV first infected humans in the 1970s, no one in the world knew what it was. An African subspecies of chimpanzee was found to be the origins of human HIV transmission, according to scientists. They contend that when people hunted these chimpanzees for food and came into contact with their contaminated blood, the chimpanzee immunodeficiency virus known as simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) mutated into HIV.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is becoming a familiar feature of today's world. In the battle against an unidentified and stigmatized virus, the medical profession and its supporting institutions have made amazing strides. Successful approaches have opposed stigma and discrimination, mobilized impacted communities and tackled delicate societal issues surrounding HIV prevention, such as sexual behaviour, drug use and gender equality. The international response to HIV prevention has only recently gained steam, largely as a result of the accessibility of antiretroviral medicine treatment.

Over the course of the next generation, tens of millions of lives could be saved if efforts to combat AIDS were to become more intelligent, targeted and community centered. The world needs a reenergized HIV prevention movement that promotes a mix of behavioural, structural and biological strategies.

According to studies, HIV may have spread from apes to humans. The virus progressively expanded throughout Africa over many years before eventually reaching other regions of the world. Despite the fact that infection rates have decreased in many nations around the world, there is still a long way to go.