next year naopwa has a bittersweet milestone. we turn 30 years old. i say bittersweet because we'd like nothing better than to see an end to this epidemic which has taken the lives of 620,000 americans. on the other hand we're thrilled to do the good work to educate and inform about the needs of people living with hiv/aids. these are 30 years that dear friends of mine lost, lost in the early years of the aids epidemic back in the 1980s and 1990s they never had a chance to live. so with this in mind, we thank the pharmaceutical industry, the fda and the brilliant researchers for creating antiretrovirals. i'm living proof that they do work. i've been positive for over 23 years. we are at a brilliant beginning in saving the lives of people living with aids. however, according to recent studies from cdc less than 25% of the people prescribed antiretrovirals stay on treatment. some say it's because they get nauseous, especially when they first start them, others because of the barriers, access to the medication, and they have the potential to increase risk