We can treat AIDS with drugs – but only love will beat its insidious stigma

Activism has always been about connecting with marginal people. Our movement is defined by elevating those set aside by society: reaching out with love, connecting them to a supportive community, and helping them get the care they need. It is in this spirit that thousands of researchers and activists, including myself, will attend the 22nd Annual AIDS Conference in Amsterdam next week.

The international community has made remarkable progress in the fight against AIDS. this gathering. Over the past two decades, the number of people on treatment for HIV / AIDS has increased fivefold. Spectacular medical advances mean that people living with HIV lead a full and happy life. A diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. This progress has been made not only through scientific innovations, but also through worldwide efforts to combat stigma and social isolation with compbadion, dignity and love.

I saw this progress during my visits to South Africa. On my first visit to Durban in 2005, I met a local LGBT support group in relative secrecy, because no one wanted to be seen or photographed with me as an AIDS activist. They could not risk disclosing their HIV status or badual orientation to the larger community or even their own family.

This was unfortunately the case of a charming young man, Leslie Jackson, who was ostracized by virtually all of his family just to be gay. But thanks in part to the intensive training of health professionals and the support of the LGBT community through a program funded by the Elton John Aids Foundation, by the time Leslie joins me and David at Durban's Gateway Health Clinic in 2016, he proudly explained that he worked as a peer educator not only for the clinic staff but also for the media around the world.

Progress is undeniable, but our work is far from over. There were 1.87 million new infections in 2016 – and nearly half of people living with HIV this year did not have access to treatment. Medications can reduce viral loads, but they can not eliminate the insidious stigma still attached to the disease. And we still face tremendous challenges in testing and treating people in remote areas of the world.