World AIDS Day (redirected from AIDS World Day)

World AIDS Day

December 1

In order to promote more social tolerance and a greater awareness of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), the World Health Organization (WHO) declared December 1 as World Aids Day in 1988. Every year various global agencies, including the American Association for World Health, take the lead in coordinating this day and in educating people about HIV/AIDS, which has claimed nearly 22 million lives in the 20 years since the first AIDS cases were diagnosed.
In the United States, local communities, organizations, and schools have observed World AIDS Day by displaying sections of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, each square of which represents an individual who has died of AIDS; exhibiting their own artwork focusing on the AIDS crisis; disseminating education and prevention materials; collecting personal care and food items for centers that serve AIDS patients; and holding candlelight memorial services, among many other events.

CONTACTS:
World Health Organization
20 Ave. Appia
Geneva, 1211 Switzerland
41-22-791-2111; fax: 41-22-791-3111
www.who.int

SOURCES:
HolSymbols-2009, p. 1056

Celebration day: Dec 1