World AIDS Day: 11 essential books about the AIDS epidemic you need to read

To mark World AIDS Day we’ve compiled a list of essential books about the AIDS crisis to add to your reading lists.

The awareness day takes place on 1 December to help end HIV stigma and encourage HIV testing, prevention and treatment among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

It’s been more than 40 years since the AIDS epidemic started, with an estimated 36.3 million people having died from AIDS since HIV was first detected.

Much has changed as antiretroviral drugs mean that people with HIV can live long, healthy lives – as long as they’re lucky enough to be born in a part of the world where they have easy access to medication and to testing.

It’s important for people to know the history of the epidemic, which took millions of lives and saw many people face stigma, discrimination and barriers to accessing healthcare.

The list features first-hand accounts of those who worked on the front line to memoirs of those who lived and died during the epidemic to novels inspired by people’s stories.

Below we’ve put together a selection of books that focus on the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and beyond. If you know of any books we haven’t mentioned that you think should be on this list, feel free to get in touch.

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