From ACT UP to now: How HIV care has changed, and how it hasnt [Video]

Beginning with an HIV diagnosis in 1990, Ivy Arce’s story spun into over three decades of activism, now unyielding in her demand for a cure.

A cisgender straight Chinese American woman, Arce saw a poster on a New York City subway about women getting tested that convinced her to test. Following her positive diagnosis, she leaned on the city’s major HIV/AIDS advocacy group ACT UP NY, where she found community and reliable resources like Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, a force and pioneer, having become one of the first doctors to treat patients for the disease in 1977.

“For me, a cure is not a project,” she said. “Without having survival, I can’t work with any equities.”

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that harms the CD4 white blood cells in the immune system, making it hard for the body to fight against illnesses, infections and diseases. HIV is considered a sexually transmitted disease or infection and disproportionately impacted the LGBTQ …