World AIDS Day

There are now 33.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children, according to UNAIDS.

World AIDS Day, which began on 1 December 1988, is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education.

The 2010 World AIDS Day theme was “Universal Access and Human Rights”. The event is an important reminder of the ongoing presence of HIV, and that there is much work still to be done to conquer it.

During 2009 alone, some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS.

The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries, and the world’s HIV epicentre remains sub-Saharan Africa. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents, all over the world.