AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Health

. . . A decade into the epidemic and five years after the founding of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), the best-known activist group, is appropriate to examine AIDS activism and its implications in the broad of health policy. In doing so, I will focus on four questions. First, are the roots of AIDS activism, and why was the epidemic six years old the movement crystallized? Second, why has AIDS activism been so in influencing policy? Third, what are the challenges faced by AIDS five years later? And finally, is this model of activism applicable other diseases?