December 1 was World Aids Day, designed to promote awareness and increase education on the disease worldwide, while lobbying lawmakers and scientists for the continued support of Aids-related funding and research.
I thought it was important to pay a little tribute to World Aids Day due to the gravity of its outreach: over 34 million people are living with HIV today, the majority in sub-saharan Africa where there is little to no access to treatment or prevention methods. Unfortunately, organizations continue to slash their budgets for Aids research and prevention in the wake of the economic crisis.
From my blog for Passport Magazine:
"The Global Fund to fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria recently announced its intention to abandon the next round of funding due to a ten billion dollar shortfall. While services currently financed will continue with transitional finances, this means there will be no new funding possibilities until 2014. The announcement comes alongside a new report released by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and UNAIDS. The report revealed that increased access to HIV services resulted in a 15 percent reduction of new infections over the past decade, and a 22 percent decline in AIDS-related deaths in the last five years."
With funds being taken away, however, that positive trend may not last much longer.
The issue of HIV/Aids and how serious a problem it is has really come to my attention since I began working for a gay travel magazine. The more I read about how HIV affects people's lives and how many people are affected, the more I understand the importance of days like World Aids Day, and the importance of Aids research. If you didn't do it yesterday, then reflect a little today and do some of your own research to stay informed and stay protected, and if you can, to help.
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