To End AIDS

To End AIDS features the writing and photography of Pulitzer Center grantees who have reported on HIV/AIDS in regions around the globe from Atlanta to Kiev and Cape Town. 


Journalists Shannon Bradley, William Brangham, Jon Cohen, Misha Friedman, Jason Kane, Aditi Kantipuly, T J Maposhere, Amy Maxmen, Rebecca Sananes, Ana Santos, Jennifer Stephens, and Veejay Villafranca explore different facets of the AIDS crisis, among them providing support to teens in Malawi and discrimination in the Philippines.


Their stories, originally published by PBS NewsHour, Science, NPR's Goats and Soda, The Guardian, Radio Free Europe, and other outlets, illustrate both the advances and challenges in the global fight to end AIDS.


Editorial Reviews:


For the global movement to end the AIDS epidemic to succeed, the challenges we face and the successes we achieve must be communicated to scientists, activists, policy makers, and the general public. One of the most important ways to tell the story of HIV is to portray the lives of people affected by the disease around the world through multimedia journalism. Jon Cohen and his colleagues participating in The Pulitzer Center's To End AIDS are some of the best journalists in the field.”


- Scott Campbell, Executive Director, Elton John AIDS Foundation



"To End AIDS" is a beautiful book. Those of us doing global health research spend too much time talking to one another within our scientific circles, thinking in terms of data, and the next intervention. These are all critical to addressing and, yes, maybe someday ending one of the most complex and transformative pandemics of our time. But our fixation on scientific jargon, methodology, and numbers often blocks out the compelling stories of the effect HIV has had on individuals, communities, and countries. The stories in "To End AIDS" are a wonderful antidote to the scientific obfuscation. Rigorously reported and informed by the science and theories of public health, the stories told here focus on the resilience of those affected by HIV and the critical importance of local context.


At face value, the global response to HIV is also filled with success stories, but the successes shouldn’t crowd out information about urgent gaps. Almost half of the people living with the virus have access to life-saving medicines, yet over half of those in need of medicines do not receive them, and one quarter of babies are not protected. And we will never end AIDS if we don’t prevent infection in the first place. We are still struggling to reach those who are most vulnerable to infection and most often overlooked: teenage girls involved in sexual relationships with older men, transgender women, men who have sex with men, injection drug users, and the list goes on. We have the knowledge and the tools to help them stay safe. But complicated global policies, funding mechanisms, supply chains, local laws, social norms, poverty, and the many layers of stigma and discrimination still consistently thwart our best efforts. "To End AIDS" inspires but it also warns us that we are nowhere near the end of this difficult journey.


- Jennifer Beard, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health at the Boston University School of Public Health.


"To End AIDS" is a remarkable achievement in reporting that employs a variety of media to inform the public on an ambitious effort to bring the HIV epidemic finally under control. Featuring the work of leading science writers, photojournalists and videographers, and with strategic support from sources including the Pulitzer Center, this e-book and associated materials highlight the global effort to employ potent new anti-retroviral drugs not just for the health of the individual infected with HIV but as a public health intervention. Treating HIV infection now almost uniformly suppresses the growth of the virus to a level that can, almost always, prevent transmission even without barrier protection from condoms. We also now know that some of these same drugs if taken by HIV-uninfected persons can prevent viral acquisition, another vital aspect of a growing global approach aimed at "getting to zero." Zero new infections, AIDS-related deaths and HIV-associated stigma and discrimination.


"To End AIDS" presents a multifaceted description of these efforts to control the epidemic as well as challenges still being encountered. While getting to zero is on target in San Francisco, barriers are still limiting progress in Atlanta. Ambitious community-wide programs in East Africa are following hundreds of thousands and offering universal HIV treatment, while the much more concentrated epidemic in South Africa continues to infect young women who also face all too common sexual violence. Photos of those affected by the epidemic amplify the message in powerful ways including especially sobering scenes of the devastation in Eastern Europe and South Africa. The Pulitzer team brings years of experience to telling this compelling story which is available free of charge as a downloadable e-book. This project is a powerful reminder of how far we've come in facing the HIV/AIDS epidemic but also a reminder of how far we have yet to go. This is highly recommended as an essential resource.


- Dr. Paul Volberding, Director, UCSF AIDS Research Institute and Director of Research, UCSF Global Health Sciences