As the Ebola epidemic in West Africa slows and falls from the headlines, there is a temptation among many to view this outbreak as an isolated event. In fact, the opposite is true. Ebola is the tip of a global health crisis: a crisis in our collective ability to deliver the essentials of modern medicine to those who need help the most, in the most timely and efficient manner.

The International AIDS Conference is gathering thousands of people, from patients to researchers to activists, to achieve nothing less than an "end to the HIV epidemic." And although the epidemic is still claiming way too many lives, recent advances in research, treatment, and prevention have been nothing but phenomenal. As someone who has been fighting another deadly scourge, tuberculosis (TB), for more than 15 years, I find myself wondering: what can we learn from HIV activists?