1 December is World AIDS Day. The Day was proclaimed by the World Health Organisation and the UN General Assembly in 1988. Since then, it has provided yearly opportunities to raise awareness and organise campaigns about this growing issue.
Around 40 million people live with HIV today, and the number of HIV-positive people is currently rising in every single region of the world. Around 2.8 million people died of AIDS in 2005, and about 400,000 of them were children. After over 20 years, this pandemic is still gaining ground despite international, national and local awareness campaigns and the development of new treatments. World AIDS Day is therefore used to fight ignorance and prejudices that allow this deadly disease to spread.
In Addis Ababa, Save the Children marked the day with an event at the Hilton Hotel, gathering children from across Ethiopia, formulating messages towards the Ethiopian government to take action to eradicate HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. The former US Secretary of State, Dr Madeleine Albright, joined the children in their pledges and stressed the need for urgent actions.
The theme for this year's World AIDS Day is 'accountability', and its slogan: "Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise". The theme and slogan refer to the various goals adopted and declarations made by the UN and member States:
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the 2006 review of the Declaration, at a High-Level meeting in May-June, which produced a new Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS.
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the "3 by 5 initiative" launched by UNAIDS and WHO in 2003: global target to provide three million people living with HIV and AIDS in low- and middle-income countries with life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment (ART) by the end of 2005.
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