Since it first began in 1981, the HIV epidemic has killed more than 44 million people. For a generation, a diagnosis was essentially a death sentence, and for much of the world it remains a daily threat, with some 1.3 million people newly infected in 2024 alone.
But something remarkable has happened. Deaths from HIV-caused AIDS have fallen 70 percent since their peak. Around 30 million people are on antiretroviral treatment, drugs that turned that death sentence into a manageable condition. And we’re now on the cusp of breakthroughs that would have seemed like fantasy a decade ago: long-acting drugs that can prevent infection with a single injection every six months, and even the real possibility of a vaccine.
For the first time, the end of HIV is a plausible goal. Yet this is also the moment when the global funding and political commitment that made this progress possible are being pulled back. Health programs that have saved millions of lives face deep cuts, both abroad and at home.
Over the next several months, Future Perfect will be exploring the fight against HIV, here in the US and overseas, from the political and the pharmaceutical to the personal and the painful. There’s never been a more important moment for this coverage, because the overriding question in front of us is no longer whether we can end HIV. We know we can. It’s whether we will.
This series was sponsored by Gilead. Vox had full editorial discretion over the content of this reporting.
- The 45-year fight against HIV is one of humanity’s greatest victories. It’s also in danger.
- Have we cured AIDS?
- Botswana’s incredible HIV success story, explained in one chart
- The US is fast-tracking this important HIV drug — for everyone except South Africa
- Killing PEPFAR means killing millions of people
- India’s drug industry saved the world once. Can it do it again?
- America’s culture wars are killing people overseas
- 200,000 additional children under 5 will die this year — thanks to aid cuts
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