World AIDS Day

photo credit: Jayel Aheram

According to the statistics presented on the website of World AIDS Day, and on UN-AIDS, 2.7 million new cases of HIV infections have occurred in 2008. The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is Universal Access and Human Rights. HIV remains a very stigmatized disease, and the worst part is that people affected by the virus are also frequently ostracized.

The UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé indicates that for him, universal access and human rights mean “means doing everything we can to support countries to reach their universal access goals for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support – all the while protecting and promoting human rights.”

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