From Nature, 7 October 2026:
The year 2016 was one for the history books. It saw Donald Trump winning the US presidential election, the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union and the declaration of Zika virus — a mosquito-borne and sexually transmitted virus that causes severe birth defects — as a global public-health emergency.
It was also the year that the United Nations committed to eliminating AIDS.
AIDS was first defined in 1983 as a disease caused by HIV, which is thought to have jumped into humans — most probably from chimpanzees or monkeys — in the early to mid-twentieth century. The virus destroys immune cells responsible for fighting off infection. Since then, more than 44 million people around the world have died of AIDS or HIV-related diseases, as a result of their immune system no longer being able to defend against even common infections. An estimated 41 million people are currently living with the virus. Read more.
