Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

Started in 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about increasing awareness, education and fighting prejudice. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

This is the theme of World AIDS Day 2005. “Keep the Promise” is an appeal to governments and policy makers to ensure they meet the targets they have agreed to in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Some of the important of these promises are contained in the UNGASS Declaration and by the 3 by 5 Initiative:

The UNGASS Declaration of Commitment was signed by all 189 members of the UN in June 2001. The governments of these countries committed themselves to taking action on HIV and AIDS in the fields of leadership, prevention, care and support, treatment, reducing vulnerability, and human rights. The following targets were set for the end of 2005:

• Reduce HIV prevalence by 25% among men and women aged 15-24 in the most affected countries.
• Ensure that at least 90% of young people aged 15 to 24 have access to the information, education and services necessary to develop the life skills required to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection.
• Reduce the proportion of infants infected with HIV to 20% by increasing access to services which prevent mother-to-child transmission.
• Increase annual spending on HIV and AIDS to $7-10 billion in low and middle-income countries and those countries experiencing or at risk of experiencing rapid expansion of HIV epidemics.

• Provide access to antiretroviral treatment to 3 million people living with HIV in developing and transitional countries by the end of 2005.

People have aright to hold governments and policy makers to account as they announce whether these promises have been kept, and whether enough progress is being made towards longer-term targets.

One of the Millennium Development Goals, to which all members of the UN have committed, is to have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Substantial progress must be made by the end of 2005 to ensure that our leaders will be able to keep this promise, too.

• By raising awareness of HIV and AIDS in your area.
• By wearing a red ribbon, and asking others to do the same.
• By protecting yourself.
• Get tested.

At School or in the parish

• Have a dress up or down day
• Put up some poster- get people talking
• Sell red ribbons
• Organize a creative writing/poster campaign
• Cook an international meal or have a bake sale
• Get your friends, family, parishioners or students to express their feelings and expand their knowledge about AIDS
• Use your imagination!
• Raise money

AIDS Statistics

At the end of 2003, the CDC estimates that 405,926 persons were living with AIDS in the USA.

Of these,

• 36% were White
• 42% were Black
• 20% were Hispanic
• 2% were of other race/ethnicity

Of the adults and adolescents with AIDS, 77% were men. Of these men,

• 58% were men who had sex with men
• 22% were injection drug users
• 11% were exposed through heterosexual contact
• 8% were both men who had sex with men and injection drug users

Of the 88,815 adult and adolescent women with AIDS,

• 63% were exposed through heterosexual contact
• 35% were exposed through injection drug use.

An estimated 1,998 children were living with AIDS at the end of 2003.

Persons with AIDS are surviving longer and are contributing to a steady increase in the number of people living with AIDS. This trend will continue as long as the number of people with a new AIDS diagnosis exceeds the number of people dying each year.

At the end of 2003, the CDC estimates that there were 351,614 persons living with HIV/AIDS in the 33 areas, which have a history of confidential name-based HIV reporting, based on reported diagnoses and deaths. However, the total number of people living in the USA with HIV/AIDS is thought to be between 1,039,000 and 1,185,000. The discrepancy between these figures is due to several factors including:

• reporting HIV diagnosis has not yet been implemented in all states
• anonymous tests, including home tests, are excluded from case reports
• one in every four people living with HIV has not even had their infection diagnosed, let alone reported.

World HIV/AIDS Statistics

• The total number of AIDS deaths between 1981 and the end of 2003: more than 20 million.
• Number of children orphaned by AIDS living in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2003: 12 million
• By December 2004 women accounted for 47% of all people living with HIV worldwide, and for 57% in sub-Saharan Africa.
• In 2003, young people (15-24 years old) accounted for half of all new HIV infections worldwide; more than 6,000 became infected with HIV every day
• An estimate five million people in low and middle-income countries do not have the AIDS drugs, which could save their lives.

HIV/AIDS Through the Lens of Catholic Social Teaching

From the National Catholic AIDS Network

The Unity of the Human Family and its consequent call to equity in sharing the resources of creation in solidarity.

Access to HIV care and treatment can no longer be relegated to a luxury among the citizens of rich countries. It can and must become a reality for those in low-income countries as well, provided that the entire world can join in solidarity to arrange: sustainable financing; affordable prices; reliable health systems; and fair priority-setting in the selection of those who will receive such treatment.

(Fr. Robert Vitillo, Executive Director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and President of NCAN Board in an address at the National Catholic AIDS Ministry Conference, July 2003).

The Priority of the Poor and Vulnerable in the Call to Solidarity.

We have also come to realise that poverty goes hand in hand with HIV and AIDS. It concerns us that our already fragile economies should be further weakened with much of the trained labour force lost to HIV and AIDS. Poverty facilitates the transmission of HIV, makes adequate treatment unaffordable, accelerates death from HIV-related illness and multiplies the social impact of the epidemic.

(Bishops Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). The Church in Africa in the Face of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: “Our prayer is always full of hope” Dakar 2003)

The Rights and Responsibilities of Each Member With the Whole Human Family.

The battle against AIDS ought to be everyone’s battle. Echoing the voice of the Synod Fathers, I too, ask pastoral workers to bring to their brothers and sisters affected by AIDS all possible material, moral and spiritual comfort. I urgently ask the world’s scientists and political leaders, moved by the love and respect due to every human person, to use every means available in order to put an end to this scourge.

(Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in Africa, 14 September 1995, #116).

Discrimination against those suffering from HIV or AIDS is a deprivation of their civil liberties. The Church must be an advocate in this area, while also promulgating its own nondiscrimination policies in employment, housing, delivery of medical and dental care, access to public accommodations, schools, nursing homes, and emergency services.

(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Called to Compassion and Responsibility: A Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis, 1989)

The Equal Dignity of Each Human Person in the One Human Family.

Do not despair- you are not abandoned by Christ nor by us. When you find yourself in a hopeless situation on account of AIDS, Jesus, your brother, remains right next to you and never abandons you. We encourage your families and communities to accept you with love and to stand by you. We urge them not to abandon you but to continue Christ’s mission of mercy, compassion and love. The Church loves you, welcomes you and reaches out to you in many ways.

(Bishops of South Africa, July 30, 2001).