World Aids Day 2008

1^st December 2008 marks the 20^th anniversary of World AIDS Day. This year's theme is 'Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise – Leadership – Respect & Protect'.

World AIDS Day is the day when individuals and organisations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic.

The red ribbon has been an international symbol of AIDS awareness since 1991. It's the result of collaboration of a group of New York artists who wanted to create a non-copyrighted image that could be used as an awareness-raising tool by people across the world.

• Over the past 25 years, nearly 25 million people have died from AIDS.
• In 2007, globally, about 2 million people died of AIDS, 33 million were living with HIV and 2.5 million people were newly infected with the virus.
• There is no cure for AIDS, but there are various treatments that can be used to keep HIV under control.
• In the UK, there around 7,000 new diagnoses of HIV every year.
• AIDS and HIV are not the same. AIDS is when HIV begins to break down the immune system and the body begins to fail in fighting diseases.

by Ella Spencer