2002 Overview: The role of activism.

As we enter 2002 many lives are being lost in the U.S. and around the world because opportunities to save them are being neglected or squandered, often due to lack of followup. The system does not work by itself. Problems fester indefinitely unless advocates push for attention and solutions. New activism is now emerging. But we need to understand what creates opportunities for activists, and how the process can work better. This article will outline some AIDS treatment issues, to show people who want to help how to find more information, and to help them find people and organizations they can work with.

To get a better sense of what is happening, we watched the emails and papers crossing our desk this month. The issues are endless; this article cannot touch 10% of what is going on. We had to omit many areas -- including the biggest of all, Africa and the world, where the epidemic kills 8,000 people every day. The global pandemic and global response need separate articles, and cannot be summarized meaningfully. It is hard to report because of uncertainty on the most central issue: how much are countries and people, rich and poor alike, finding the will to deal seriously with the epidemic after two decades of neglect?