More than 30 years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, African Americans represent half of all new cases in the United States. How did we get here? This new documentary explores the decades of events leading to today’s infection rates — and the activists and leaders who stepped up to fight AIDS in black America.

While HIV diagnoses have fallen globally by roughly 20 percent over the last decade, here in the U.S., the numbers have held relatively steady at around 50,000 new infections each year. In the United States, African Americans comprised 14 percent of the population in 2009, yet accounted for 44 percent of all new HIV infections.

Bambi Gaddist, Executive Director of the SC HIV/AIDS Council is interviewed in this important documentary, and there are still two chances to catch the program on Sunday June 15 at 2 AM on ETV and at 5 AM on ETV World. All Frontline programming is available on demand if you miss these airings. You may also go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/endgame-aids-in-black-america/ to see this powerful documentary online.

Our state ranks extremely high in this epidemic. African Americans account for nearly four times the rate of new infections, and documented methods of infection indicate that heterosexual contact is almost equal to that of male-to-male contact in ways the disease is transmitted.

For the first time in over twenty years, the International AIDS Conference will take place here - in the United States from July 22-27. The location of AIDS 2012, a premier meeting for those working in the field of HIV/AIDS, in Washington, D.C., is only possible because of the reversal of the HIV travel and immigration ban.

Also of note, last week after decades of controversy, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new H.I.V. test that for the first time makes it possible for Americans to learn in the privacy of their homes whether they are infected.

The availability of an H.I.V. test as easy to use as a home-pregnancy kit is yet another step in the normalization of a disease that was once seen as a mark of shame and a death sentence.

The OraQuick test, by OraSure Technologies, uses a mouth swab and gives results in 20 to 40 minutes. A previous test sold over the counter required a user to prick a finger and mail a drop of dried blood to a lab.