The Advent of Antiretroviral Therapy in South Africa

The history of HIV/AIDS and response to the raging epidemic in South Africa has been a tumultuous one to say the least. The first case of AIDS in South Africa reported in 1982 was of a homosexual man who had contracted the virus while in California. It was over 20 years later in 2004 when the government finally began making antiretroviral treatment publicly available. It's sobering to think that was only 9 years ago. Here's a timeline and description of what happened in that HIV/AIDS landscape during that period.

BMSF started unrolling HIV/AIDS treatment programs in 2001 (with SA government's blessings of course) with specific target populations, like pediatrics, and were moving ahead with general adult populations by 2004. One such treatment centers funded by BMSF was the CDC Clinic at Ladysmith Provincial Hospital, which is also part of in the Impilo Yonke Mental Health and HIV/AIDS project I'm involved with. Here are some images from the hospital.

Tune in to the next post about my time in the CDC clinic.