1980s: In 1981, the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, identifies a new syndrome initially called "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency." The disease is named AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in 1982. By the end of 1985, AIDS has spread to at least fifty-one countries. In 1988, the United States becomes the last major Western industrialized nation to launch a coordinated education campaign. By the end of the decade, an estimated 1 million people worldwide have contracted AIDS. In the United States, nearly 150,000 cases have been diagnosed and almost 90,000 people have died.

Today: Globally, an estimated 33.4 million people are living with AIDS. In the worst-affected countries, such as Zimbabwe and Tanzania, more than 10 percent of the adult population might be infected. In developed countries, however, massive education and disease prevention campaigns, along with new experimental drugs, have slowed or even reversed the spread of AIDS. In 1992, the first successful combination...