December | Tuesday | 01, 2015 :: World AIDS Day, designated on December 1 every year since 1988, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection, and mourning those who have died of the disease. Government and health officials, non-governmental organizations and individuals around the world observe the day, often with education on AIDS prevention and control.
World AIDS Day is one of the eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Malaria Day and World Hepatitis Day. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an official proclamation on World AIDS Day.
World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Programme on AIDS at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Bunn and Netter took their idea to Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the Global Programme on AIDS (now known as UNAIDS). Dr. Mann liked the concept, approved it, and agreed with the recommendation that the first observance of World AIDS Day should be on December 1, 1988. Bunn, a former television broadcast journalist from San Francisco, had recommended the date of December 1 that believing it would maximize coverage of World AIDS Day by western news media, sufficiently long following the US elections but before the Christmas holidays.
World AIDS Day Themes
2015 On the fast track to end AIDS
2014 Close the gap
2013 Zero Discrimination
2012 Together we will end AIDS
2011 Getting to Zero
2010 Universal Access and Human Rights
2009 Universal Access and Human Rights
2008 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise – Lead – Empower – Deliver
2007 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise – Leadership
2006 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise – Accountability
2005 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise
2004 Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS
2003 Stigma and Discrimination
2002 Stigma and Discrimination
2001 I care. Do you?
2000 AIDS: Men Make a Difference
1999 Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children & Young People
1998 Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign With Young People
1997 Children Living in a World with AIDS
1996 One World. One Hope.
1995 Shared Rights, Shared Responsibilities
1994 AIDS and the Family
1993 Act
1992 Community Commitment
1991 Sharing the Challenge
1990 Women and AIDS
1989 Youth
1988 Communication
