Twenty years of information,
advocacy and inspiration—1994

Project Inform achievements (1985–2004)     View PDF

Project Inform milestones:

• Distributed a comprehensive guide to the treatment of opportunistic infections in HIV disease.
• Led an ongoing effort challenging “HIV denialists” who argued that HIV was harmless. At Project Inform’s urging, the National Institutes of Health published a lengthy compilation of all the studies which led to or supported the conclusion that HIV is the cause of AIDS.

Epidemic milestones:

• AZT is proven to reduce HIV transmission from mother to infant by up to 70%.
• 10th International AIDS Conference (“The Global Challenge of AIDS: Together for the Future”) is held in Yokohama, Japan.
• AIDS becomes leading cause of death for all Americans ages 25 to 44; remains so through 1995.
• FDA approves an oral HIV test, the first non-blood based antibody test for HIV.
• Combination therapy proves effective in battling HIV, and individualized therapy emerges as a treatment strategy championed by Project Inform, the SF AIDS Foundation, and ACT-UP/Golden Gate.
• Pedro Zamora, a young gay man living with HIV, appears on the cast of MTV ’s popular show, The Real World; dies later in the year at age 22.
• Randy Shilts, author of “And the Band Played On” dies of AIDS at age 42.
• Elizabeth Glaser, co-founder of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, dies of AIDS.
• Stavudine (d4T/Zerit) approved for use.