1988: NMAC Shifts from Building Awareness to Capacity Building
NMAC spends much of 1988-1989 refining its mission. Initially, the
agency focused on raising awareness around the impact of HIV/AIDS in
communities of color, both in the general public and the federal government.
Outside of NMAC, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues its
ups and downs. The US
postal service mails out 107 million copies of "Understanding AIDS,"
by the Surgeon General.
The FDA allows PWAs to import non-approved treatments for personal use.
An article in the New York Times reveals that HIV/AIDS
efforts among minorities have failed because they ignore the different cultural
norms and languages found in communities of color. Amanda Houston-Hamilton, one
of the founding members of NMAC and chairwoman of San Francisco’s Black
Coalition on AIDS explains that San Francisco’s HIV/AIDS prevention efforts
target white men. Black men overall have been ignored and “have fallen through
the cracks.”
The American Foundation for AIDS Research and the National AIDS Network
partnered with the Ad Council for the first printed and televised public
service announcement about AIDS promoting condom usage. The advertisement
agency behind the campaign, Scali, McCabe, Sloves, Inc., receives several
awards for their efforts.
AIDS Education and Training Centers
(AETCs) are established to educate medical providers about HIV/AIDS. They are
later incorporated into the Ryan White CARE Act.
Act Up's two years of protest against Burroughs Wellcome for
selling AZT at a premium is rewarded – the company drops the price of the drug
by 20%. Haiti
halts the distribution of tainted blood products.
U.S.
government bans discrimination against HIV-positive workers.
The first World AIDS Day honors the theme: A World United Against AIDS.
The American Medical Association urges doctors to break confidentiality in
order to warn the sexual partners of people being treated for AIDS.
The International AIDS Council holds its meeting in
Stockholm, Sweden.
June
1988
The Presidential Commission on the HIV Epidemic announces that the FDA arrangements were "not meeting the needs of people with
AIDS".
October 11, 1988
More than 1,000 ACT-UP demonstrators virtually
shut down operations at the FDA headquarters. Eight days after the ACT-UP
demonstration, the FDA announced new regulations to speed drug approval.
The first official syringe exchange was started in the US to prevent
transmission of HIV through drug use. A limited experiment started in November
in New York City and, at about the same time,
the Prevention Point opened in San
Francisco. But Congress prohibited the use of federal
funds to support needle exchange programs.
FDA approved alpha interferon to treat Kaposi’s sarcoma.
In 1988, 21,244 people died of AIDS in the US. This number included journalist
Max Robinson, the first African-American network news anchor for the ABC Evening News. Many AIDS centers are
named after Max Robinson, including a branch of Washington, DC’s
Whitman Walker Clinic. The Max Robinson HIV/AIDS Media Award, bestowed annually
by The Black AIDS Institute, honors his professional legacy. Puppeteer Wayland
Flowers and artist Basquiat also die.