AIDS is a serious health problem, which affects many people every year. This serious disease spread by HIV virus can prove fatal if not treated on time. The most worrying thing about this is that till now no medicine or vaccine has been made for this disease.
World AIDS Day is celebrated across the world on 1 December every year to show support for HIV infected people and to give courage to AIDS patients.
World AIDS Day was established as the first International Health Day in 1988. The day aims to promote global collaboration in removing barriers that hinder access to HIV testing, prevention and care, while also promoting the importance of inclusivity and equality.
Every year United Nations organizations, governments of countries around the world and civil society come together to advocate campaigns focused on certain problems related to HIV. Therefore, it is important to know about the importance of this day and the theme of this year.
The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is ‘Let communities lead’, which highlights the vital role played by communities in shaping the HIV response and global health. According to UNAIDS, this means That everyone must work to eliminate the factors that hinder the fight to end AIDS.
Indeed, World AIDS Day is a time to think about how far we have come, and understand the problems we still need to solve to end AIDS by 2030. Not only this, the day is also an opportunity to unite all stakeholders to jointly redouble efforts to ensure the success of HIV response.
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), in the year 2021, 3 crore 86 lakh people were living with HIV across the world, and about 6.5 lakh people died due to HIV. Of the 3 crore 86 lakh people living with HIV, 3 crore 67 lakh were above 15 years of age and 17 lakh were below 15 years of age. According to WHO estimates, HIV prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 worldwide was 0.7 percent in 2021.
On the other hand, according to the report of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) of the Government of India, in the year 2021 in India, about 42 thousand people died due to AIDS related diseases. In such a situation, it is very important to make people all over the world aware of this disease. World AIDS Day is celebrated every year with this purpose.
Talking about HIV in China, according to the data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at the end of 2020, more than 10 lakh people were living with HIV in China, and by the end of 2020, there were a total of 35,100 deaths in the country. Happened. Here, more than 95 percent of HIV cases were infected through sexual transmission.
If we look at it, ever since HIV was discovered, people suffering from the virus have experienced a lot of discrimination and social stigma. Unfortunately, misconceptions exist about the spread of HIV and the realities of living with the virus that affected people face. People still do not fully understand how HIV is spread. This lack of understanding makes life difficult for people living with HIV.
To stop the problem of people being treated badly because of HIV, we need to teach everyone more about HIV, talk about it openly so that it is not a big deal. For this we have to share information about new technology and medical advances.
We also need to fix unfair things in society that increase the chances of people getting HIV. Everyone should have the right to good health, and we must make sure everyone can get the help they need.
(Akhil Parashar)
