World Aids Day

Despite the fact that 33.4 million people, including 2.1 million children under 15, are living with HIV across the world, few diseases are surrounded by so much stigma, myth and confusion. But raising awareness is exactly what World AIDS Day sets out to do. It has been held each year on December 1 since it began in 1988. It is an international campaign and countries across the world get involved. Red ribbons are worn to mark World AIDS Day, as a sign of support for those living with the disease, as well as a way of challenging the prejudice surrounding HIV and AIDS. The Red Ribbon Project was created by Visual AIDS, an organisation based in New York. Artists came together to create a symbol of support.
Countries across the world, including many countries in Africa and the Caribbean, are organising different events for World AIDS Day 2009. In Australia, they are selling a World AIDS Day Calendar in Canberra, and there will be prayers for those suffering from HIV and AIDS at Christ Church Cathedral in Ballarat. The Barbados office of the Caribbean HIV&AIDS Alliance is organising a Female Condom Awareness Day on December 5 as part of its approach to empower women to make responsible decisions about their sexual health. Free female condoms will be distributed.

This year’s World AIDS Day in the UK focuses on the reality of HIV today and asks real people to present their accounts of how living with HIV affects them. In the UK alone, more than 85,000 people are living with HIV and over a quarter of people with HIV in the UK are undiagnosed. The majority of people living with HIV are between the ages of 30 and 44, but younger and older people are also affected. As well as the accounts, many schools will be using the activities provided by Education International to spend ‘One Hour on AIDS’ to raise awareness about the disease.

And it would seem that raising awareness from a young age is exactly what is needed to combat the disease. A global youth survey carried out by Standard Chartered and AIESEC International, the world’s largest student organisation, found that young people are by and large ignorant when it comes to what they know about the disease. Over 1,500 people, spanning 99 countries, responded to the survey. Although 84 per cent of young people believe that the AIDS epidemic is one of the important challenges of our times, almost 50 per cent have a very low knowledge about the disease. Nearly a quarter admitted they do not always use a condom when having sex, and over a third do not think that condoms are effective in preventing sexual transmission of the disease. This could be one of the reasons why almost half of the world’s new HIV infections occur among 15 to 24 year olds, often due to unprotected sexual activity.

As a result, Standard Chartered has launched the beta version of www.vir.us, a website aimed at young people to inform them about HIV and AIDS. ‘In the absence of a cure or a vaccine, the only hope of tackling HIV is to educate people on how to avoid contracting the virus in the first place – or passing it on if they are HIV positive’, says Vanessa Green, of the project at Standard Chartered. ‘The survey shows that there is still a huge job to be done in educating the next generation.’