World AIDS Day 2009

Remember the lost...
mothers, brothers, babies,
laborers, teachers, artists,
middle-class, rich, poorest of poor.

Rejoice in the progress...
Widespread treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
Infected are living longer.
Stigma barrier acknowledged.
Discriminatory US travel ban lifted.

Renew our commitment...
to treat HIV until it is stopped,
promote universal access without discrimination,
replace stigma and fear with respect for human rights
and compassion for every human soul.

"The theme of this year's World AIDS Day is Universal Access and Human Rights. For me, that means doing everything we can to support countries to reach their universal access goals for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support - all the while protecting and promoting human rights."
-UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe
2009 World AIDS Day message

Optimism in UNAIDS Report on AIDS Epidemic

UNAIDS today distributed extremely hopeful data reflecting years of tireless, challenging work to change behaviors, formulate new medicines, level the playing field on treatment cost and availability, reduce stigma, keep the money flowing and never, never give up the fight to end AIDS.

Still... too many deaths, no cure, more work needed to end discrimination & treatment inequity, complacency causing return to old, unsafe behaviors and spread of misinformation. Be vigilent, stay informed and contribute to the hopeful trend.

Global summary of the AIDS epidemic, 2008

View more presentations from UNAIDS.

India quickly posted this easy-to-digest summary of the data via livemint.com