Social activism against the spread of HIV/AIDS and in support of effective treatment has taken place in multiple nations across the world over the past several decades. In terms of the complex history of HIV/AIDS in human beings, widespread criticism by regular individuals against public health organizations (including, often, government-managed medical bureaucracies) have escalated into protest movements due to slow treatment responses (and, sometimes, outright discrimination against patients plus the proliferation of misconceptions about HIV/AIDS). Methods of demonstration have included pamphleteer activities, placard waving, public marches, sit-ins, the hanging of political leaders in effigy, and the like.