Each year, December 1st is recognized as World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day started back in 1988. Every two years, the campaign has a different theme. This year’s theme is “I am living my rights. Stop AIDS. Keep the promise.”
On World AIDs Day, public health advocates pay tribute to the millions of people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States and around the world, and the millions of people who have been tested for HIV. In the public health community, it has long been recognized that HIV testing and linkage to care can save lives. This community is working to build on the successes to date that allow more people to live longer and healthier lives.
According to the CDC, when the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched in 2003, fewer than 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving life-saving antiretroviral drugs. Six years later, thanks to the efforts of Ministries of Health; the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS); The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; PEPFAR; and public and private donors, approximately 5.2 million people in low- and middle-income countries are receiving these drugs. Despite this tremendous progress, 33.4 million people are living with HIV worldwide, and according to UNAIDS, approximately 2.7 million new infections occurred in 2008. (CDC)
The Center for Diseases Control and Prevention reports that the cumulative estimated number of AIDS diagnoses through 2008 in the United States and dependent areas was 1,106,391. Of these, 1,073,128 were diagnosed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 33,262 were diagnosed in the dependent areas. In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 851,974 cumulative AIDS diagnoses were among adult and adolescent males, 211,804 were among adult and adolescent females, and 9,349 were among children under age 13 years. HIV Surveillance Report: Diagnoses of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2008.
According to the Center for Disease Control, HIV testing is critical to the fight against HIV. The CDC estimated that 1.1 million people are living with HIV in the United States. Of those, as many as 1 in 5 people are unaware of their HIV infection. HIV testing is important because finding new HIV infections means people can get lifesaving treatment early and can take steps to protect their loved ones from being infected.
HIV testing should be a routine part of health care. CDC recommends:
• Everyone ages 13-64 get tested at least once.
• People at high risk for HIV get tested more often. Those at the highest risk (including Injection-Drug Users and their sex partners, persons who exchange sex for money or drugs, sex partners of HIV-infected persons and Men who have Sex with Men) get tested at least annually.
• Women get tested during each pregnancy.
For further information on HIV/AIDS prevention, visit the Center for Diseases Control & Prevention website at www.cdc.gov. Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
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