Each year the World AIDS Day celebrated on 1 December. People around the world are united to express compassion for people living with HIV and to honor those who have died of illnesses associated with AIDS.

Each World AIDS Day focuses on a particular theme, mutual responsibility, which this year will be Global Solidarity. The theme of this year joins a growing list of problems to which World AIDS Day has alerted individuals globally.

World AIDS Day is an occasion for people around the world to gather and express solidarity for people living with HIV in the fight against HIV.

What does HIV mean, and how does it vary from AIDS?

To put it in the simplest words, AIDS is a disease, and the virus that causes it is HIV. HIV or human immunodeficiency virus attacks and weakens the protection mechanisms of people against infections in the immune system. Via the immune system, victims lose their inbuilt capacity to battle disease and rely heavily on drugs.

It is not critical that a person who is HIV positive is also AIDS positive. When, because of no treatment, HIV infection reaches the highest or most advanced stage, it is called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS.

World AIDS Day is important because it reminds the public and government that HIV has not gone away. There is still a critical need to raise funds, raise awareness, combat discrimination, and improve education. So let’s pledge to spread as much awareness about HIV as possible on this World AIDS Day and make efforts to minimize the danger of this deadly infection.

Objectives of World AIDS Day

The key goal of the annual celebration of World AIDS Day is to implement new and successful strategies and services to improve the health system, as well as to increase the ability of the health sector to treat HIV or AIDS.

• Direct Member States to improve HIV or AIDS prevention and control efforts globally.
• This will help to raise awareness among people about antiretroviral medicines in the fight against HIV infection.
• To provide the Member States with technical assistance for the implementation of the prevention, treatment of HIV or AIDS program, including monitoring, counseling, antiretroviral therapy, etc.
• Urging students from schools and colleges to contribute to the AIDS campaign.
• To reduce the number of HIV or AIDS-infected patients.

Therefore, we have seen what infection with AIDS / HIV is. How does it impact the lives of humans, what is the meaning of celebrating World AIDS Day, or why it is observed annually, etc?

How to celebrate world aids day?

1.      Wear a red ribbon

The most commonly known way of expressing your support on World AIDS Day is to wear a red ribbon on your lapel. Red symbolizes blood and disease-induced suffering, indignation at global failure to combat the epidemic, a warning to take seriously the disease, and a symbol of compassion, passion, and tolerance for those affected by the disease. In order to find a ribbon supplier that supports a charitable cause, search online.

2.      Donate to an AIDS charity

Check online and decide whether you want to help an organization in the United States, where deaths have been decreasing since the mid-1990s, but infection continues to impact thousands of people each year, or maybe an organization focusing on infection in Sub-Saharan Africa, where there are many national and international non-profits committed to combating disease and problems associated with its spread.

3.      Attend a vigil by candlelight

On World AIDS Day most major cities in the US hold candlelight vigils as a way to visually mourn those lost to the disease and vow to fight it in the future. To show your support, search online to find a vigil near you and go along. Don’t forget to share your experience on social media to ensure that your friends are brought to the forefront of the idea, and to show your support.

Why is it important to observe World AIDS day?

World AIDS Day gives people the chance to join the fight against HIV. HIV-affected people and their families feel inspired and comforted that they are not alone in their fight against the deadly disease. World AIDS Day observation aims to show solidarity to people living with HIV, as well as to provide support to families of patients who have died from an AIDS-related disease.

While the virus is relatively recent, it has taken more lives than any other virus. They have also been exposed to discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS and their families in various parts of the world. Medical research has progressed and discovered HIV therapies, and different laws have been developed across the world to protect HIV patients from discrimination and provide them with proper care. According to the WHO survey, 79 percent of the 37.9 million people infected by HIV received tests at the end of 2018, 6 percent received treatment, and 53 percent achieved HIV virus suppression with a reduced risk of infecting others.

It is also important to observe the day because it serves as a reminder to the community, society, and even the government that HIV still exists, and because of the stigma surrounding the disease, people with HIV still face discrimination.