A Timeline of Women Living With HIV: Past, Present and Future -- 2003

2003. The National Institutes of Health releases the press statement titled, "Nevirapine Sustains Advantage Over AZT During Breastfeeding Period." The press release goes on to describe how infants who receive a single does of the inexpensive drug nevirapine soon after birth -- and whose mothers took one dose of the same drug during labor -- were 41 percent less likely to acquire HIV at birth or during breastfeeding than infants in infant/mother pairs who were treated with a multi-dose regimen using AZT. Anthony Fauci states, "This landmark study could have far-reaching implications in resource-poor countries where breastfeeding and mother-to-child HIV transmission are both common."

Sister Mary Elizabeth, a transgender nun and founder of the Web site AEGiS, receives an award at the event Honoring Our Heroes 2003 in Chicago.

The global epidemic crosses a significant threshold when, for the first time, according to new statistics, half of those living with HIV are women.