WORLD AIDS DAY

Today is World AIDS Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. 

"Thirty years ago, in New York and San Francisco, a small number of young men became inexplicably and very seriously ill. Some had a particular cancer while others had a form of pneumonia that had never before troubled that age group. Their immune systems were shot, their bodies unable to fight back, and they died. They were the first documented cases of Aids, a new disease that would terrify entire populations as it scythed down rich and poor, celebrity and nonentity. Rock Hudson. Freddie Mercury. Arthur Ashe. And thousands whose names were known only to those who loved them.

Today, on World Aids Day, the disease is still incurable – but not untreatable. The great news this year is that scientists have now tentatively offered us a way to end Aids. Studies in recent months have shown that the drugs that keep people alive also stop them infecting others.

The Global Fund's decision to cancel grants will reverse the huge gains made in combating Aids, TB and malaria. 

Now is not the time to cut funding for HIV and Aids.

There are more than 6 million people in poor countries on the drugs now – but just as many are still in need, and many more will soon join the waiting lists. Without treatment and continuing effort, three decades of progress could be reversed."(excerpt from the Guardian)

For more information like this about Aids and AIDS WORLD DAY go to the Guardian, my source of information

 

In 1987, a quilt created by The Names Project Foundation covered the National Mall in Washington, D.C., memorializing those we lost to AIDS. We can help create a quilt online. Add your panel to the (2015)QUILT here. The beginning of the end of AIDS starts with you.