HIV/AIDS: The Plague Years

Releasing worldwide this summer, PANDEMIC PARADOX: HIV ON THE EDGE is an original CSIS Global Health documentary series looking at the risk of a resurgent HIV/AIDS four decades after the first case was reported and a few months into the coronavirus pandemic. In the second episode, “The Plague Years,” Dr. Anthony Fauci recalls the “darkest” years of his life in the early 1980s when he and others could do little to stop the surging pandemic which was stealing the lives of previously healthy young men. Through conversations with Dr. Fauci, former CDC Director Julie Gerberding, famed HIV/AIDS doctor Paul Volberding, fashion designer Kenneth Cole and many others, the episode explores how the plague was experienced – confusion, stigma, hysteria, denial – and the historic actions taken to break the silence, confront the U.S. government, and change medical practice. The episode concludes with a look at the epidemic surges in South Africa and the former Soviet Union, and thoughts on how those plague years compare with our current experience of Covid-19. Video produced by the CSIS Global Health Policy Center Executive Producer: J. Stephen Morrison Directed and Written By: J. Stephen Morrison and Justin Kenny Cinematography and Editing: Justin Kenny Narration: Ross Huguet --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to our channel: http://cs.is/2dCfTve CSIS is ranked the #1 think tank in the United States by Global Go To Think Tank Index. Visit http://www.csis.org to find more of our work as we bring bipartisan solutions to the world's greatest challenges. Check out the rest of our videos here: http://cs.is/2dolqpj Follow CSIS on Twitter:   / csis   On Facebook:   / csis.org   And on Instagram:   / csis