A healthcare crisis in the rear-view mirror

When I was in college in the mid-’90s, I produced an award-winning documentary on AIDS.

We took an in-depth look at people affected by the disease, working to dispel the dangerous stereotypes that surrounded it.

We interviewed a young woman who contracted AIDS through heterosexual sex with a cheating boyfriend and a young boy who became infected after a blood transfusion. It was important for us to share their stories - real people, real lives - to show how the disease crossed demographics and shattered assumptions. We talked honestly with healthcare professionals about how AIDS was spread and - just as importantly - how it was not.

For those of us who lived through the ’80s and early ’90s, we remember.

We remember the fear that fed toxic homophobia.

We remember the blatant disregard for marginalized communities.

We remember hearing stories of people dying long, excruciating deaths, often alone. Their suffering hidden or dismissed because society deemed their illness an abomination.

If the AIDS crisis had unfolded in the age of social media, it would have been unimaginably worse - misinformation, hatred and panic amplified at the speed of a share button.

Now, in the 21st century, AIDS has become a healthcare crisis in the rear-view mirror. If you had told my 21-year-old self that one day AIDS - though not eradicated - would be managed with a daily drug regimen and that it would no longer be a near-certain death sentence for most, I’m not sure I would have believed you.

And yet here we are.

To think that a disease that once devastated entire communities and created complete and utter panic across the world is now something many people live with shows just how far we’ve come. It’s a testament to science, to technology and to the countless researchers, doctors, advocates and thinkers far smarter than I am who refused to give up.

Their work proves that when we trust the science and invest in solutions rooted in compassion and truth, we can make society healthier, stronger and more humane.

It gives me hope for what else we can overcome - if we’re willing to listen, learn and keep pushing forward together.