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The History Hour: Four decades of HIV/Aids

Discussion & Talk

patient zero photo.jpg

04/12/2021 GMT

Four decades of HIV/Aids

BBC World Service - The History Hour, Four decades of HIV/Aids

A history of HIV/Aids over the past 40 years.

Living with HIV/Aids in the 1980s, the first successful treatment and when South African activists took on the pharmaceutical companies over the cost of HIV drugs.

It’s forty years since the first report on HIV/Aids appeared in a medical journal. Back in the early days in the 1980s a misunderstanding made one man the face of the epidemic. A Canadian air steward, Gaetan Dugas was mistakenly identified as ‘Patient Zero’. A misreading of scientific data had given the impression that he was responsible for the spread of the disease. We hear from people who knew him. Also one woman who was diagnosed in the 1980s tells us of the stigma at the time.  And the discovery of the first successful treatment for HIV/Aids, as well as the story of how South African activists led the charge to make drugs widely available. And we hear from the former partner of the British film maker, Derek Jarman who was one of the first artists to speak openly about being HIV positive.
Photo: Gaetan Dugas. (Credit: Rand Gaynor)

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