AIDS/HIV

This two-part video series explains what the HIV virus is, how it behaves, and why it has been so diffcult to erradicate. The series also seeks to raise awareness of AIDS and promote responsible behavior amoung young adults. A Cambridge Educational Production.

From San Francisco, the epicenter of the AIDS explosion, to the Bronx, notorious for its injected drug abuse, this program examines how AIDS took hold in the U.S. during the early 1980s and the advances being made toward a cure. Noted journalist David Perlman, of the San Francisco Chronicle; pioneering epidemiologist Dr. Selma Dritz; Dr. Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the retrovirus HIV1; Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of AIDS research in America; and others offer insights into life with AIDS, the disease's African roots, medical advances such as AZT and protease inhibitors, and the boost to AIDS awareness given by celebrities. (48 minutes)

Why is a cure so elusive? Why has it been so difficult to find a cure or vaccine for AIDS? What makes AIDS so deadly? What is the HIV virus, and how does it devastate the immune system? This eye-opening video explores these questions, providing fascinating insights into the unique qualities of the HIV virus that make AIDS such a relentless killer.A Cambridge Educational Production. One 30-minute video.

This program offers an excellent worldview of AIDS, providing background on the disease's history, its transmission and symptoms, innovative awareness campaigns, and the ongoing search by scientists from around the globe to find an effective long-term treatment. Fred Valentine, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the New York University School of Medicine; Lawrence Altman, medical correspondent for The New York Times; Andrew McMichael, principal investigator for the Oxford AIDS Vaccine Initiative; and others share their insights into a pandemic that has already infected and killed tens of millions. (28 minutes)

Although there is cause for cautious optimism in the U.S. regarding the battle against AIDS, elsewhere this devastating pandemic shows no signs of abating. When did this disease begin, and how? And what exactly are nations and communities doing to stop it? This detailed two-part series traces the emergence and spread of AIDS around the world and the steps being taken to control and cure it. 2-part series.

In Ethiopia, fear of HIV has led to a stigma against those who carry it. This case study spotlights the heroic efforts of individuals and organizations such as Dawn of Hope, the Cheshire Foundation, Mekdim, and Save Your Generation to open a life-saving dialogue about the disease that includes community education on HIV transmission and prevention as well as counseling and care for those in HIV-related need. This issue is knocking on everybody's door," says Tsegaye, a young man who came out about his infection to open the eyes of his friends to the danger of unprotected sex. "Each of us must do our part." Contains discussions of condom use. (28 minutes)"

This ABC News program focuses on the good works being done by two remarkable AIDS crusaders who have taken the AIDS pandemic in Africa to heart: singer/songwriter Alicia Keyes and human rights maverick Stephen Lewis. Keyes' position as spokesperson for Keep a Child Alive, a nonprofit organization providing life-saving medicines directly to African children and families with HIV/AIDS, is showcased alongside the efforts of Lewis, U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and creator of a foundation devoted to funding community-based HIV/AIDS-related initiatives. (22 minutes)

This candid three-part series-developed by the internationally recognized Center for HIV Intervention and Prevention and part of a national AIDS/HIV prevention model-is an indispensable part of any teen-oriented HIV/AIDS awareness program. These programs provide urban adolescents with the knowledge, motivation, and behaviors they need to protect themselves from this deadly epidemic. Contains explicit language and demonstrations. 3-part series, 17-25 minutes each.

It could never happen to me." This program dispels the myths still surrounding HIV transmission through interviews with six ethnically diverse young men and women who contracted HIV while teenagers. They speak out about their relationships prior to infection, how they believed they wouldn't contract this virus, and the physical, psychological, and social effects of being HIV-positive. They also discuss the difference between birth control and disease protection, plus the crucial importance of always using condoms or abstaining from sexual intercourse. HIV is a life-or-death reality that needs greater clarification now-and this program can help. (21 minutes)"

With the final investigative work of journalist Peter Jennings as its cornerstone, this program studies the frightening rise of AIDS among African-Americans-a trend that has been developing for several years, but which has gone largely unnoticed outside the black community. Jennings' contribution to the program is a candid group discussion he conducted with HIV-positive African-American men in Atlanta. In addition to that eye-opening conversation, the program also features talks between anchor Terry Moran and various black leaders-including the Reverends Jesse Jackson, Calvin Butts, and T. D. Jakes-and frank input from several African-American women. (41 minutes)

Both promising and controversial, the drug Nevirapine is a strategic weapon in the battle against pediatric AIDS. This program explores the positive effects of medicines such as Nevirapine and AZT-and of obstetric procedures developed in recent years-that have helped prevent in utero HIV. It also assesses progress that doctors and counselors have made in helping youths who are already infected with the virus. Interviews with children, parents, and healthcare professionals highlight the importance of emotional support for young patients and describe the use of sophisticated drug cocktails that will hopefully keep kids alive until a cure is found. (23 minutes)

In America, many AIDS patients receive as much as $25,000 per year in medical assistance, while patients in poorer nations receive virtually none. In this program, doctors, members of advocacy organizations, patients, and others assess the current state of AIDS in the U.S., Europe, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, India, Thailand, Cambodia, and Hong Kong; underscore the value of education and prevention; and study the impact of AIDS on society. In places where medical treatment is simply not an option, compassion is viewed as a key therapy-a therapy still being learned in medically advanced America. (50 minutes)

Did the HIV1 virus originate with an endangered subspecies of chimpanzees in sub-Saharan Africa? In this program, ABC News correspondent John Donvan sums up the chain of events leading to that remarkable hypothesis. Then, anchor Forrest Sawyer; Dr. Anthony Fauci, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for Newsday; and conservationist Stewart Hudson, of the Jane Goodall Foundation, discuss the nature of infectious diseases, whether the chimp theory is viable, and the causes and effects of the African bush meat trade. Can researchers determine how these chimps stay healthy, despite HIV, before hunters drive them to extinction? (22 minutes)