Twenty years of information,
advocacy and inspiration—1996

Project Inform achievements (1985–2004)     View PDF

Project Inform milestones:

• Developed and launched the web site www.projectinform.org, which was named a top public service site by Internet World Magazine. Web site starts to receive 1,000 visitors per day.
• With the advent of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), effective but expensive treatment regimens, access to treatment becomes a focus of our public policy efforts. As more people were living longer with HIV. Project Inform assumed a leadership role in the development of specific funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). Our advocacy led to increased ADAP-specific funding, allowing people who couldn’t otherwise afford medication access to life-prolonging treatment. Project Inform continues to provide leadership in the fight for increased funding for this program as well as reasonable drug prices and appropriate structure and delivery mechanisms.

Epidemic milestones:

• 11th International AIDS Conference (“One World, One Hope”) is held in Vancouver, Canada; highlights effectiveness of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), creating period of optimism.
• FDA approves HIV urine test and first HIV home testing and collection kit.
• FDA approves viral load test, a new test that measures the level of HIV in the body.
• HIV no longer leading cause of death for all Americans ages 25–44; remains leading cause of death for African Americans in this age group.
• U.S. Congress reauthorizes the Ryan White CARE Act.
• International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), an NGO, forms to speed the search for an effective HIV vaccine.
• Time Magazine names AIDS researcher Dr. David Ho as its “Man of the Year.”
• FDA approves first non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), nevirapine (Viramune); ritonavir (Norvir) and indinavir (Crixivan) also approved for use.