Image from Lights for Rights
World AIDS Day has been held on December 1st since 1988. The intention is to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS across the globe. For this years event the theme is focused on human rights and access to treatment.
Below are a few sobering facts about HIV and AIDS:
• A total of 33 million people now live with HIV/AIDS. Two million of them are under the age of 15.
• In 2008, an estimated 2.7 million people were infected with HIV.
• Every day 7,397 people contract HIV—308 every hour.
• In 2008, 2.0 million people died from AIDS.
• More than two-thirds (67 percent) of all people living with HIV, 22 million, live in sub-Saharan Africa—including 90 percent of the world’s HIV-positive children.
For additional facts about AIDS you can go here.
Want to get involved? Go here to see if an event is going on in your area.