LOS ANGELES -- Forty years ago this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first cases of what would become known as HIV/AIDS, and touch off an epidemic that took 32 million lives across the globe, and 700,000 in the United States.

Rick Chavez Zbur, outgoing executive director of Equality California and a candidate for Assembly District 50 in the Santa Monica area, said Americans mustn't forget the terrible toll of this disease.

"I lost literally scores of friends to the disease, and watched our government pretty much do nothing about it for over a decade," Zbur recounted. "And so, as I think about the 40th anniversary, I think we need to remember all the people that were lost."

He added the huge loss of life and perceived inaction by the Reagan administration motivated groups like Equality California to help elect leaders who would take the disease seriously, including former President Bill Clinton, former Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Today, HIV treatments make it possible for 38 million people worldwide to live with HIV, including 1.2 million Americans.

Chavez Zbur added he's proud of the leading role California has played in making new medications more accessible.

"California is one of the states that insurance fully covers PEP and PrEP in Medi-Cal," Zbur pointed out. "And that's not the case across the country, so we need to reduce the barriers for medication that can prevent HIV."

Advocates would also like to see the repeal of laws in multiple states that criminalize the transmission of or perceived exposure to HIV and other infectious diseases, arguing the laws serve as a major disincentive for people to get tested.

Once viewed as an automatic death sentence with the first diagnosis in 1981, HIV today is met with effective treatment options. Today is National HIV Testing Day, which encourages people to get tested to determine if they are infected. Testing is free and confidential at multiple sites around the country.

Alan Witchey, president and CEO of The Damian Center, an Indiana AIDS service organization, said testing for the virus is simple.

"You can come in and get your status in minutes. It's a rapid test," he explained. "It's just a pin prick to your finger and you can get your status in minutes, so it's worthwhile going and finding out."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Indiana, 540 new cases of HIV were detected as of January 2022 - currently, there are 13,900 people living with HIV in the state.

The agency also says an estimated 1.2 million people in the United States had HIV at the end of 2021. Of those people, about 87% reported being aware they were HIV positive. Witchey admits the urgency and attention to the diagnosis and treatment of HIV and AIDS has faded over time due to medications that help infected people live long and healthy lives, but added it is a misnomer to believe the HIV and AIDS epidemic is over.

"The epidemic is still going on in central Indiana," he said. "We had 300 new cases last year. There are about 1,000 people in central Indiana that are living with HIV and don't know it."

Witchey added often people will get diagnosed later, and they may already feel ill or have side effects related to the disease - which is why it is so important to get an early diagnosis. A 2020 study by 'aidsvs.org' found that 76% of people who developed AIDS had a late HIV diagnosis, which is defined as having an AIDS diagnosis within three months of testing positive for the HIV virus.


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Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and advocates say barriers remain when it comes to testing and social stigma. More than 40% percent of people currently living with HIV are Black, despite accounting for only 12% of the U.S. population.

Laura Cheever, associate administrator with the HIV/AIDS Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, said viral suppression treatment, in the form of daily medication, has allowed most HIV patients to live a successful and near-normal lives.

"So it's no longer a death sentence," Cheever said. "So, that's really important. And second, that person cannot transmit HIV sexually to other people. So it's important both for their health and for our work towards ending the HIV epidemic."

More than 87% of Black Americans living with HIV/AIDs are receiving medical care and viral suppression drugs, according to federal data. Cheever added that is a huge increase from the number of Black patients receiving treatment in 2010.

In 2020, North Carolina ranked in the top ten states for new HIV cases among adults and adolescents, with more than 1,000 residents newly diagnosed, most of whom are Black men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cheever said an ongoing challenge, especially in rural areas and in the South, is encouraging people to get tested.

"One in eight people living with HIV don't know they have it," Cheever said. "So, we need better testing. And we need people to come in here and stay in care, we estimate that of the 1.2 million people with HIV in this country, 250,000 are out of care. "

According to research focused on the deep South, common barriers to testing include transportation, cost, not knowing where to receive specialty care, stigma, and fear of others in the community finding out.

Today is National HIV Testing Day, and doctors and advocates for people living with HIV and AIDS are urging everyone to make sure they know their status by getting tested regularly.

People living with HIV can take medication to suppress their viral load to undetectable levels, at which point, they cannot sexually transmit the virus to someone else.

Dr. Laura Cheever, an infectious disease physician and associate administrator of the HIV/AIDS Bureau in the Health Resources and Services Administration, said about 1.2 million people in the U.S. have HIV according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but one in eight does not know it.

"For a lot of people, there's still a lot of stigma around HIV," Cheever acknowledged. "They just don't want to know or don't want to have to deal with it. So, it is important to understand that HIV is a highly treatable disease."

Cheever added another reason some people do not get tested is, they assume their primary-care doctor takes care of it at their annual checkup, or when getting blood tests done at an urgent-care clinic or emergency room. But she cautioned most times, HIV testing is not a part of those appointments.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services receives funding from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, as do cities and community-based organizations, to make sure testing and care are available. Cheever pointed out the funds go to providing medical care, doctors' visits, medication, lab work and essential support services, such as transportation or emergency housing.

"You can go to the CDC website, gettested.cdc.gov, and there you can put in your ZIP code and find a place to get tested near you," Cheever explained. "There are many places now where you can go to get free or low-cost testing mailed to your home, so you can do self-testing in the privacy of your own home."

For many people living with HIV, Cheever said treatment is one pill a day, and she added for those who may not have insurance or be able to afford the prescription, the Ryan White program can help.