Today is World AIDS Day, a day to recognize the international impact and important of HIV/AIDS and spread awareness about the issue. The day was first founded in 1988 by Johnathan Mann of the World Health Organization (WHO). Each year World AIDS Day has a theme, and this year, on its 20th anniversary, the theme is "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise - Lead - Empower - Deliver". For the past four years the theme has been headlined by "Stop AIDS", as opposed to the earlier themes such as "Stigma and Discrimination" (2002/2003) or "Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS" (2004) that seemed to focus more on awareness than action. Perhaps this is so because we are getting closer and closer to discovering the cure to AIDS and solving the epidemic. Over the past few years, as the campaign has become more intense and widespread. In fact, doctors in Germany claim to have found the "cure" through a bone marrow transplant they gave a man with both AIDS and leukemia, who since the transplant, has shown signs of neither. This, along with fast-spreading global awareness of the epidemic, offer hope for the end of the disease.

Did you know?
I found shocking statistics on Avert:

-Africa has 11.6 million AIDS orphans.
-There were 33 million people living with AIDS in 2007.
-Young people (under 25 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide.
Global Health Reporting
-59 percent of women over the age of 15 in sub-saharan Africa are living with AIDS.
-In 2006, although Whites made up 66 percent of the U.S. population, they only accounted for 30 percent of the AIDS diagnoses.
                                    

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