At the beginning of the year, it was reported that a large number of children in Romanian hospitals and orphanages had become infected with HIV as a result of multiple blood transfusions and the reuse of needles. Jonathan Mann, the head of the WHO's Global programme on AIDS, noted that 'Eastern Europe is the new frontier for the AIDS epidemic'.69
In China, 146 people in Yunnan Province near the Burmese border were found to have HIV infection due to sharing needles. This shocked public health officials in China. It was not known whether this was the first sign of an epidemic or an isolated outbreak.70
"AIDS and drug addiction are still seen as consequences of contact with the West, AIDS being known as aizibing, the 'loving capitalism disease'."71
In New York city the needle exchange scheme was closed down.72
Jonathan Mann resigned as the head of the WHO AIDS programme, to protest against the failure of the UN and governments worldwide to respond adequately to the exploding pandemic, and to protest against the actions of the then WHO director-general Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima.73 During Jonathan Mann's leadership, the AIDS programme became the largest single programme in the organisation's history.74 But more importantly:
"Jonathan's persistence and passion helped wake up the world."75
and,
"Had it not been for Jonathan's unique contributions, the world's approach to AIDS might very well have gone towards mandatory testing and quarantine."76
On April 8th Ryan White died in the United States. He was a haemophiliac infected with HIV through the use of infected blood products. He had become well known a few years earlier as a result of his fight to be allowed to attend public school.77 Just a few months later the Ryan White CARE Act was passed by Congress. The aim of the act was to provide grants to improve the quality and availability of care for individuals and families with HIV disease.78
In the UK and the US, there started to be more discussion about whether there would ever be a heterosexual epidemic because of the difficulty of female-to-male transmission of HIV.79 80 81
In June, a TV programme called 'The AIDS Catch' was screened in the UK, again questioning whether HIV caused AIDS and whether AIDS was infectious or not. The programme provoked a hostile response among the AIDS community and organisations.82 Some people felt that the programme was sensationalist and contained factual inaccuracies. It was also felt that the programme caused significant distress among people with HIV and undermined the efforts carried out in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention.83
Protests against the ban on HIV positive people entering America had continued. Although there had been minor changes to the law, at the time of the 6th International Conference on AIDS in San Francisco in June it was still considered by many to be "discriminatory and medically unsupportable".84 Consequently there was a widespread boycott of the conference, and many people who did speak at the conference took the opportunity to voice their views. One such person was June Osborn, the Chair of the National Commission on AIDS, who said:
"How sorry I am, and how embarrassed as an American, that our country whose tradition serves as a proud beacon for emerging democracies, should persist in such misguided and irrational current policy.
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