A Summit
of health ministers back in 1988 designated December 1rst as World AIDS Day to
raise awareness of HIV and AIDS victims around the world.
Programs fighting against HIV/AIDS will be held in many
cities around the world on this day. San
Francisco numbers among places where these programs
are not limited to December 1rst.
The World Health Organization says that the percentage of
people living with HIV has leveled off because of programs like the AIDS walk,
free testing and AIDS education. Almost 25,000 people participated in July at
the annual AIDS walk.
According to latest statistics, 33 million people around the
world are diagnosed to be living with HIV. The number seemed to have leveled
off from 40 million worldwide which sounds promising but it still is a matter
of great concern. Another 2.5 million people contracted the virus this year,
which means a 40 percent lower than the estimate for 2006. Two million people
more have died from AIDS since the beginning of the year.
The most affected region of the world is known to be
sub-Saharan Africa. Eight African countries
account for almost one third of all new HIV infections and deaths, according to
the International Herald Tribune. Zimbabwe,
for example, has known a drop of HIV prevalence rates, but AIDS is still the
biggest challenge the country faces, according to Owen Mugurungi, who heads the
government's HIV/AIDS and TB unit, quoted by Zimbabwe's Financial Gazette.
Worrying data come from Western Europe
too. According to a survey in Great Britain
the number of HIV cases is almost as high as in South Africa and that’s a country
where about 19 percent of the population is HIV-positive. What is the most
worrisome is that one in seven British people aged between 14 and 25 say they
wouldn’t stay friends with an HIV-infected people.
According to World Health Organization HIV has increased by
more than 150 percent in Eastern Europe and central Asia
in the past six years. The number of people living with HIV has more than
doubled in Vietnam, while Indonesia has
the fastest growing epidemic.
Almost 700,000 people are infected with HIV in China according
to a survey released on Thursday by the United Nations and the Chinese
government.
Countries around the world made available more money for
HIV/AIDS programs. The United
States is the world leader in its level of
support for the fight against the virus. "This investment has yielded the
best possible return: saved lives," said President George W. Bush. What is
ironic is the fact that even if Washington
D.C. is the capital that gives
the most global funding for AIDS, is also the leader in number of people
suffering from it.
Detroit, for example, has
more than 40 percent of Michigan’s
HIV and AIDS cases. Infection rates for African American are seven times higher
than for whites and 17 times higher for black women than for white women. The
number of gay men contracting the virus is also increasing.
More organizations around the world are dealing with people
having the virus. Such organization is the Advocates for Youth, whose leader is
James Wagoner. "The chief problem is denial -- denial by adult policy
makers and politicians that young people need sex education to prevent HIV.
Denial that the research shows that if you educate young people about sex,
about condoms, about prevention, it does not cause sexual activity, despite the
protestations of numerous governments and policy makers," said Wagoner
according to the Voice of America.
Despite better prevention efforts, more than 6,800 people
are infected each day and nearly 6,000 people die from AIDS.
December 1rst is a day which tries to prevent HIV/AIDS from
spreading, and according to these reports worldwide, there’s still a lot of
work to be done fighting the disease and the prejudice that accompanies it.
What is the most certain is that there are too many people
dying because of AIDS and one can’t say that the impossible has been done to
solve the problem.
