The phone rang just before midnight.

It was early February in 2001 in Mumbai, and Yusuf Hamied, a seasoned chemist at the Indian multinational pharma company Cipla, was at a dinner party. He picked up the phone anyway. A New York Times reporter was on the line, calling to check a rumor: Was Hamied really offering HIV meds for $1 a day?

This story is part of the 2025 Future Perfect 25

Every year, the Future Perfect team curates the undersung activists, organizers, and thinkers who are making the world a better place. This year’s honorees are all keeping progress on global health and development alive. Read more about the project here.

In 2001, AIDS — which develops when HIV goes untreated — killed around 3 million people, 70 percent of whom were in Africa. The main treatment, antiretrov

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