Today, TheYBF.com commemorates World AIDS Day. Read on for ways YOU can participate and get more infomation about fighting the epidemic.
TheYBF.com celebrates WORLD AIDS DAY, which is held every year to address the worldwide AIDS epidemic. The theme of this year's World AIDS Day is “Getting to Zero” by 2015. The goal is to encourage governments to live up to their financial pledges so there'll will be "Zero AIDS Related Deaths, Zero New Infections and Zero Discrimination."
Great strides have been made in the epidemic with the most recent global AIDS Report showing new treatment measures have averted more than 2.5 million AIDS related deaths since 1995, but clearly, the war is far from over. Funding for HIV has already begun to flat line with many governments not coming through on pledges they have made.
But things are a bit different at the White House (where the AIDS ribbon was put on display). President Obama released a statement earlier this week saying,
“This Saturday, December 1st, on World AIDS Day, we will come together as a global community to stand with people affected by HIV/AIDS, to remember those we have lost, and to renew our commitment to ending the pandemic once and for all. We have made great strides in combating this disease, and an AIDS-free generation is within sight."
And both Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis argued that implementing Obama’s healthcare act will be key to combating the disease in the US and giving an estimated 30 million people in the U.S. access to better health insurance and doctors.
Labor SecretaryHilda Solisalso recounted huge accomplishments in the areas of travel and employment for HIV positive persons saying,
“Thanks to President Obama concluding a successful bipartisan effort to end the travel entry ban on people living with HIV, the International AIDS Conference at last returned to the United States for the first time in 22 years.
Through our department’s aggressive public education campaign, we inform workers of their rights and employers of their responsibilities under federal law – including that workers cannot be denied employment, harassed or otherwise discriminated against because of their HIV status.”
New Yorks kicked off World AIDS Day on Thursday with a celebration in the Meatpacking District sponsored by Belvedere.
Models Angela Martini and Jessica White among the guests.
Ceremonies to commemorate World AIDS Day will be happening in the nation's capital and in many other cities around the world today.
Join in the US goal for "Getting to Zero" by donating to these organizations:
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
World Vision
CARE
