“Bloggers Unite is an attempt to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By asking bloggers to write about a particular subject on 1 day of the month, a single voice can be joined with thousands to help make a difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or supporting 3rd world countries“

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FACTS about AIDS

• Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a set of symptoms and infections resulting from the damage to the human immune system.
• Aids is now a pandemic, an estimated 33,2 million people live with the disease worldwide and it still kills: 2,1 million people, including 330,000 children.
• Three quarter of these deaths occurs in Africa.
• The majority of HIV infection is acquired trough unprotected sexual relations between partners, one of whom has HIV.
• Nowadays, there is currently no vaccine or cure for HIV or AIDS.
• Experimental and alternative treatments have been used to treat symptoms or alter the course of the disease, new treatments continue to be developed and HIV continues to evolve resistance to treatments, but only a vaccine can halt the pandemic because it would possibly cost less.
• Aids stigma exists around the world, including rejection, discrimination and avoidance of HIV infected people.
• Aids-related stigma refers to prejudice, discrediting and discrimination directed at people perceived to have Aids or HIV, and the individual, groups and communities with which they are associated.
• Interventions to reduce stigma are crucial for improving care, quality of live and emotional health for people living with HIV an Aids.
• Public health officials want to avoid stigma which would compromise access to care, prevention measures are taken to respect and to protect people with HIV.
• World AIDS day is observed every year on December the 1^st.
• World AIDS day provides governments, national Aids programs, faith organizations, community organizations and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global Aids-epidemic.
• It is common to hold memorials to honor persons who have died from HIV-Aids on this day.
• Governments and health officials also observe often with speeches or forums on the Aids topics.
• The Red Ribbon is the global symbol for solidarity with HIV positive people and those living with Aids.
• To mark the day, the Red Ribbon is worn by people all year round and particularly around World Aids Day, to demonstrate their support for people who has HIV or Aids.

This Blog has nothing to do with webdesign, but this fact had to be discussed. Want to hear what other people are saying about Bloggers Unite? Would you like to chime in and make a suggestion for the next Bloggers Unite challenge? The Bloggers Unite discussion group from BlogCatalog is a great way for members to share stories, ideas, and give feedback to keep the Bloggers Unite movement going strong! Even if you don’t have a blog of your own you can sign up for a guest account and join the conversation.

Important Links

NIDA - National institute of drug abuse

NIDA, a component of the National institutes of Health, has a mandate to support biomedical research and to improve prevention and treatment of drug abuse and addiction by getting the results of that research to appropriate audiences.

AIDS.gov

AIDS.gov provides access to Federal HIV/AIDS information through a variety of new media channels, and supports the use of new media tools by Federal and community partners to improve domestic HIV programs serving minority and other communities most at-risk for, or living with, HIV.

If you have any suggestions concerning these facts or you would like to talk about it, please do comment on this post. Spread the word out and be sure to link to this post or the Bloggers Unite page.