World AIDS Day 2023: Date, History and 5 interesting Facts That Will Shock You

World AIDS Day 2023: From its start in 1988 to the present, December 1 has been known as World AIDS Day. On World AIDS Day, people pay tribute to those who have passed away from the illness and spread awareness of the AIDS pandemic that HIV is causing. About 40 million people have died from AIDS around the world since 1981, and another 37 million are living with it. This is one of the most important global public health problems ever. Even though treatments have gotten better recently, AIDS still kills about two million people a year, including more than two million children.

World Aids Day: History

World AIDS Day was the first health day that was celebrated all over the world. It began in 1998 and was held on December 1. The day gives people all over the world a chance to work together to fight the disease and show support for people who are living with HIV. It’s also a time to remember those who have died from the disease.

The idea for World AIDS Day came about because there wasn’t much news about politics in the United States between Christmas and the 1988 election. The new broadcast journalist James Bunn at the World Health Organization thought that after a year of election campaigns, people would be interested in hearing about AIDS on the air. Bunn and his coworker Thomas Netter decided that December 1 would be the best day for the celebration. They then spent the next 16 months planning and putting together the first event.

Children and young people were the focus of the first World AIDS Day. This was done to make people in that age group more aware of how AIDS affects their lives and the lives of their families. Also, it became clear that AIDS wasn’t just a problem for people who are often looked down upon, like drug users.

The United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS took over celebrating World AIDS Day in 1996. This turned it into an annual effort to educate people about the disease and stop it. In 2004, the World AIDS Campaign was set up in the Netherlands as a non-profit group.

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How To Mark World Aids Day

Put on a red bow.

The most well-known way to show your support on World AIDS Day is to wear a red ribbon in your collar. It’s a warning to take the disease seriously, a sign of love, desire, and tolerance for those who are affected by it, and it’s also a color that represents blood and the pain that the disease causes. You can look online for a ribbon seller that helps a good cause.

Give money to an AIDS organization

Many nonprofits across the country and around the world are working to stop the sickness and the problems that come with it. Look online and decide if you want to support an organization in the US, where deaths have been going down since the mid-1990s but thousands of people are still getting infected every year, or an organization in Sub-Saharan Africa that works to stop infections. In that region, adult HIV prevalence has reached 1 in 20 people and 1.2 million people die every year from HIV/AIDS.

Attend a vigil with candles.

On World AIDS Day, people in most big U.S. towns hold candlelight vigils to remember those who have died from the disease and to promise to fight it again in the future. Find a gathering near you online, and then show your support by going. Don’t forget to post about your experience on social media. This will show your support and make sure that your friends remember the idea.

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5 Aids Facts That Will Shock You

CHIMPS are where HIV came from.

The human immunodeficiency virus came from viruses that lived in monkeys and chimps.

You don’t always get sick.

HIV infected people may not show any signs for years. During this time, the virus can still be passed on.

A lot of people don’t know they have it.

One in five people in the U.S. do not know they are infected, according to the CDC.

Minorities get it more often.

Minority groups are more likely than other groups to get HIV. This is because of things like poverty, lack of schooling, and social stigma.

It’s just as dangerous for kids.

Three and a half million kids around the world had HIV by the end of 2011.

What It Means To Have A Good World Aids Day

AIDS affects all people.

Some people didn’t like that World AIDS Day focused on kids and teens at first, but leaders did it to help get rid of the idea that the disease only affects gay men and make it more clear that it affects the whole family. HIV/AIDS kills more women of childbearing age than any other disease in the world. In 2016, 43% of the 1.8 million new HIV cases were in women.

Getting rid of one

The theme of World AIDS Day for several years now has been ending discrimination, and getting rid of new HIV infections, and deaths from AIDS-related diseases. In 2016, 44% more new infections happened in young women (15–24 years old) than in men in the same age group. This suggests that the fatal AIDS cases of male celebrities like Freddie Mercury, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Rock Hudson have continued to overshadow the real rates of new infections among women in the public’s mind. World AIDS Day wants to change those ideas and keep everyone safe.

Making medicine available to everyone

Research shows that the stigma surrounding sex work and LGBT people around the world is making it harder for some people to get the help they need. In 2015, international support for AIDS started to go down for the first time. However, around the world, less than half of people with HIV/AIDS can still get antiretroviral treatment. There has never been a more important time to bring attention to the unequal treatment so that it doesn’t spread any further.

WORLD AIDS DAY DATES