World AIDS Day

Thirty-one years ago, on June 5, in 1981, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta published a report of five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among previously healthy young men in Los Angeles. All of the men were described as “homosexuals” — two had died. This was the first official mention of a disease that had no name, no known means of transmission, no treatment and no cure.

Today, people still die from AIDS. While drug advancements have substantially decreased that number, it has also created the false-belief that contracting the disease is essentially meaningless. To some, taking one pill a day is an easy trade-off to having to wear condoms. Most disturbing, however, is the sheer number to whom AIDS just doesn’t matter, having relegated it to a page in history…

The Obama administration unveiled on Thursday a “blueprint” for confronting the global AIDS epidemic that includes as one of its goals targeting populations that are most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS — including men who have sex with men.

A new World AIDS Day report by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that a more than 50 percent reduction in the rate of new HIV infections has been achieved across 25 low- and middle-income countries –– more than half in Africa, the region most affected by HIV.

This time of the year is probably the best time (at least in our hemisphere) for World AIDS Day. Our twenty four hour days are filled with more darkness than light in December than any other month of the year. In some places it can be very dark and dreary, indeed. It’s an appropriate time of the year to remember the darkness of HIV.

President Barack Obama on Thursday issued the following Presidential Proclamation, commemorating World AIDS Day 2011: On World AIDS Day, 30 years after the first cases of HIV/AIDS were reported, we stand with the individuals and communities affected by HIV and recommit to progress toward an AIDS free generation. A red ribbon hangs from the North […]

Today is World AIDS Day. In what has become one of the most recognized international health days in modern history, World AIDS Day is a day to raise awareness and commemorate those who have lost their lives to one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.

The AIDS pandemic is almost 30 years old, and in that time 60 million people have been infected with HIV, and more than 30 million people have lost their life to the most destructive epidemic in recorded history. Today is World AIDS Day.

On the eve of World AIDS Day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, and other officials discuss the progress the Obama Administration has made in combating HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. November 30, 2009. Watch the official White House video: