The World Health Organization (WHO) declared since 1995, December 1st as ‘World AIDS Day’.
Worldwide AIDS infection rates are curving down. People carrying the virus are living longer.
According to a U.N. report in advance of today’s World AIDS Day, these trends continue a positive trend in fighting a scourge that has killed 25 million and left 33 million infected since the immunity-sapping condition was identified nearly 30 years ago.
World AIDS Day is an occasion to reflect on how far we have come in the fight against this epidemic, but also to remind ourselves of the important work we have yet to do in preventing and treating HIV.
US President Obama eliminated in October 30 a travel ban that had been in place since 1993, forbidding people with HIV-AIDS from travelling to the US. “If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it,” the American President had said.
He tipped his hat to his predecessor for starting the process. “Congress and President Bush began this process last year, and they ought to be commended for it. We are finishing the job. It’s a step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment, it’s a step that will keep families together, and it’s a step that will save lives.”
