AIDS Info

In July 1981, a small article in The New York Times reported the outbreak of a rare "cancer" among 41 gay men in New York and California. Few people imagined that an epidemic of monumental proportion was imminent.

Today, almost 22 million men, women and children worldwide have died of AIDS, and an estimated 40 million people are living with HIV. AIDS impacts people of all ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations.

To find out more about HIV and AIDS, follow one of the links to the left, starting with the Frequently Asked Questions.

If you want to talk to someone about HIV/AIDS -- for example, you want to find out if a certain activity put you at risk for getting HIV -- call an AIDS hotline. Within California, call the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's California AIDS Hotline toll free at 800/367-AIDS. Outside California, call the CDC National AIDS Hotline toll free at 800/342-AIDS.

Since the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, many HIV positive people now live longer with HIV and have a better quality of life and health. New drugs and new formulations continue to simplify anti-HIV therapy, allowing many HIV positive people to take only a few pills a day.

Antiretroviral therapy does not work the same for everyone, however, and there is still some debate about when is the best time to begin. Choosing the right drug combination can be a challenge, even for clinicians. Antiretroviral drugs (especially protease inhibitors) are also associated with side effects that may increase the risk of other illnesses, such as heart disease. While insurance plans and AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) are available to pay for treatment for many people with HIV in the U.S., ADAPs are under increasing financial strain, and--despite the development of generic versions of anti-HIV drugs--treatment remains out of reach for some 90% of people with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

Knowing one's options is critical during this time of complex treatment choices. To help HIV positive people and their caregivers navigate the treatment landscape, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation publishes BETA, a biannual treatment journal available in English and Spanish. Current and archived issues of BETA, featuring hundreds of articles, are available on this website.