AIDS is an everyday experience. These dates represent milestones in the AIDS epidemic. Some dates are known globally; others commemorate individual experiences. AIDS Is Everyday is an ongoing art project produced in conjunction with Visual AIDS to help break down the silence, shame and stigma surrounding HIV.

Add a date about your history with HIV to our online calendar at poz.com/aidsiseveryday-submit.

MARCH

Hugh Steers: The Complete Works

1 – Artist Hugh Steers dies of AIDS-related complications. (1995)

3 – Scientists announce that an HIV-positive child appears to have been functionally cured of HIV (i.e., no detectable virus without antiretroviral therapy). Known as the “Mississippi Baby,” the child sees her virus rebound the next year, and she resumes HIV treatment. (2013)

Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day logo March 10

10 – National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

11 – In order to educate others about HIV activist Alison Gertz goes public in The New York Times with her story about how she contracted the virus. A TV movie based on her life, starring Molly Ringwald, aired on ABC in March 1992. (1989)

19 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first antiretroviral drug for HIV—zidovudine, better known as AZT. The drug was initially developed to treat cancer. (1987)

Nationals Native HIV/AIDS Awarness Day logo

20 – National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

23 – President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The health care law expands access to care and prevention for all Americans and also offers protections for those living with HIV and other preexisting conditions. (2010)

25 – Nick News with Linda Ellerbee airs “A Conversation with Magic” on Nickelodeon. The special episode features Magic Johnson discussing HIV and AIDS with children, including a young Hydeia Broadbent.  (1992)

26 – The FDA approves the use of oral fluid samples with a rapid HIV diagnostic test kit that provides test results in as little as 20 minutes. (2004)

27 – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issues new HIV treatment guidelines recommending treatment for all adults and adolescents living with HIV, regardless of CD4 count or

blue condom

viral load. (2012)

29 – The FDA asks condom manufacturers to begin using the air-burst test on all brands of latex condoms. The new test measures a condom’s strength and may be an indirect indicator of its resistance to breakage during use. (1994)

31 – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards a $60 million grant to the International Partnership for Microbicides to support the research and development of microbicides to prevent transmission of HIV. (2003)