World Aids Day - December 1
Global leaders and activists gathered all over the world today to warn against complacency in fighting AIDs. The message sent out was that government must continue to fund AIDS research, prevention and help for the millions that suffer from the disease.
One of the largest gatherings took place in Johannesburg at a concert organized by Nelson Mandela. Some 50,000 people attended the concert to hear Mandela speak about the fight against AIDS. “It is still alarming that for every person who receives treatment there are four others who are newly infected,” said Mandela. South Africa has the highest rate of HIV according to the United Nations. Over 5.5 million of the country’s 48 million residents have HIV.
Worlds AIDS Day began in 1988. Progress has been made over the last twenty years but the decrease of infected people is beginning to level off whether than continue to decline. There is still a long way to go with 33.2 million people living with AIDS and 2.1 million deaths due to AIDS in 2007.
You can watch a news clip on the activities that took place around the world to mark this day of remembrance on Yahoo News.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=5274586&ch=4226714&src=news
December 26th, 2007 at 9:39 am
[...] is a great breakthrough for AIDS and HIV research. Though AIDS awareness and information is not as prevalent as it was in the 1990s, it remains a major health threat [...]