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A Big Disease With A Little Name

A Big Disease with a Little Name: ACT UP Fights Back

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ACT UP Fights Back

A Big Disease with a Little Name

BBC Radio 4 - A Big Disease with a Little Name, ACT UP Fights Back

How ACT UP led the fight for the rights of those affected by HIV-AIDS in America

How ACT UP led the fight for the rights of those affected by AIDS in America and won numerous concessions from US government agencies, improving access to life-saving treatment.

A meeting in March 1987 at the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center in New York's West Village would go on to change the national conversation on AIDS in America. 

At the time there were 50,000 reported cases of AIDS in America, and 40,000 deaths - and largely silence from the country’s President, Ronald Reagan.

"It was very obvious that our government was going to let us die," says activist Peter Staley. 

The formation of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power - ACT UP - put unprecedented pressure on the US government to speed up the approval of new treatments for people living with AIDS, and expand access to trials of experimental new drugs. 

In this episode Maria Maggenti and Peter Staley recall their time with ACT UP, and how its public demonstrations, which frequently brought New York to a standstill, helped improve access to potentially life-saving treatments for people living with HIV-AIDS and other diseases. 

Narrator: Chris Pavlo
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith

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Charting the early years of the AIDS crisis, as told by the people who lived through it

Charting the early years of the AIDS crisis, as told by the people who lived through it, from patients to medical staff, activists and politicians.

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