HIV 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 proportions was imminent.

Today, nearly 40 million men, women and children worldwide have died of AIDS, and an estimated 33.2 million people are living with HIV as of the end of 2007. HIV touches the lives of 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, go to the California AIDS Hotline's web page at www.aidshotline.org and click on Other AIDS Hotlines to find the number for your state's Hotline, or call the CDC-INFO line toll-free at 800-CDC-INFO.

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 some HIV positive people to take as little as one pill a day. Most only have to take a few pills a day.

Antiretroviral therapy does not work the same for everyone and considerable debate remains about when is the best time to begin therapy. 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., many of these programs are under increasing financial strain. Despite the development of generic versions of anti-HIV drugs, treatment remains out of reach for some 80% 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.