“If it weren’t for the advocacy in HIV we would not be where we are today. Not just in HIV, but in many other diseases. The HIV advocacy community, I think, showed the way for people suffering from a wide variety of health conditions to demand better treatment, to demand faster results, to demand access to the latest information,” he said.

Frieden says security in health means everyone is connected by “the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.” He adds, “A risk anywhere is really potentially a risk everywhere.”