1989

January 4: The County Board of Health in Tacoma, Washington, authorizes the nation’s first, full-scale, government-sponsored, hypodermic needle exchange to combat the spread of HIV.

March 9: Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS-related illness at age 42.

May 1: The first “Love Ball” AIDS benefit is held at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

Jose Xtravaganza vogues at the first “Love Ball” AIDS benefit.

June 16: Based on recommendations from NIH, the U.S. Public Health Service issues the first guidelines for preventing Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, an AIDS-related opportunistic infection, and a major cause of illness and death for people living with AIDS.

 June 23: CDC releases Guidelines for Prevention of Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis B Virus to Health-Care and Public- Safety Workers.

June 23: Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), endorses a “parallel track” approach to clinical trials, which will give a larger number of HIV-positive people access to experimental treatments.

July: Dázon Dixon Diallo founds SisterLove, Inc., the first organization in the U.S. southeastern states to focus on women living with, or at risk for, contracting HIV.

August 17: At a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services news conference, Dr. Anthony Fauci details new findings by government researchers indicating that the drug AZT may significantly prolong the lives of upwards of half the estimated 1.5 million Americans with HIV.

August 18: CDC announces that the number of reported AIDS cases in the United States has reached 100,000.

September: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awards $3.45 million to support a new set of HIV Services Planning Grants that are designed to plan for statewide or local systems of care and support in areas that are just beginning to experience larger numbers of HIV infections. The funds go to support 22 projects in 20 states.[7]

September 10–17: Members of 50 churches and mosques come together for the first Harlem Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS. The event is the brainchild of the Reverend Dr. Pernessa Seele, an African American immunologist and minister, who goes on to form The Balm in Gilead, a nonprofit organization that works with black faith communities to improve the health of African Americans.

September 18: The National Commission on AIDS meets for the first time. The Commission was founded through legislation  (H.R. 2881, Public Law 100-607, Title II [PDF, 6.0MB]) drafted by Representative J. Roy Rowland (D-GA), who is the only physician currently serving as a member of Congress.

November 2-5: The National Minority AIDS Council, in cooperation with the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) and the National AIDS Interfaith Network, holds the first annual National Skills Building Conference, which will later become the United States Conference on AIDS.

December 1: African American choreographer and activist Alvin Ailey dies at age 58 of an AIDS-related illness. In 2014, President Barack Obama chooses Ailey to receive a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation’s highest civilian honor.

HRSA grants $20 million for HIV care and treatment through the Home-Based and Community-Based Care State grant program. For many states, this is their first involvement in HIV care and treatment.

A CDC/HRSA initiative provides $11 million to fund seven community health centers to provide HIV counseling and testing services. This is a precursor to what will be part of the Ryan White CARE Act.