1998. In South Africa, Gugu Diamini, an AIDS activist, was beaten to death by her neighbors after revealing her HIV status on Zulu television. Forty-five percent of the cumulative HIV cases reported among Asian and Pacific Islander adult/adolescent females were acquired through heterosexual transmission. A cumulative total of 109,311 adolescent/adult females have been diagnosed with AIDS in the U.S. Sixty-three percent of newly reported female AIDS cases are African-American women. African-American women are three times more likely to die from AIDS than Caucasian or Hispanic women.

Of the 6,051 new HIV cases reported in women, eight percent (461) were among Latinas. The Global Campaign for Microbicides is founded at the XII International AIDS Conference in Geneva. The creation of the Microbicide campaign came about from key members of the women's health and HIV community deciding to work together to focus world attention on the critical need for new HIV prevention options, especially for women. AIDS researcher Dr. Mary-Lou Clements-Mann is killed in the crash of Swissair flight 111.

Kate Shindle wins the Miss America title. AIDS is her platform. She travels all over the country on a national speaking tour titled "On the Way to a Cure: Preventing HIV Transmission in America." She moderates a panel discussion on women and AIDS at the 12th annual World AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland at the invitation of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.