People with AIDS Coalition

The People With AIDS Coalition (PWA Coalition / PWAC), was founded in New York City in 1985 by a group of some nine persons all of whom had contracted AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).

The founders were inspired by the "Denver Principles", a manifesto adopted by PWAs and PWARCs at the National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference held at Denver (Colo.) in 1983 which proclaimed the need for self-empowerment and self-reliance on the part of persons diagnosed with AIDS or HIV and the necessity of their taking an active role in the formulation of decisions affecting their lives. During the almost eight years of its corporate existence PWAC became the largest self-help organization of people living with AIDS and HIV in America. Projects developed by PWAC included the Community Research Initiative (CRI), a network of medical doctors and their patients who undertook their own drug studies, the People With AIDS Health Group, a not-for-profit buyer's club set up to provide easier access to drugs and other therapeutic substances difficult to obtain, and a national telephone hotline and newletter.

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