The theme emphasizes the need for people everywhere to put aside their differences and to work together to face the challenge of slowing down the epidemic and alleviating its impact. At the same time it reflects a universal aspiration to find the means to prevent and cure HIV/AIDS, and the hope that comes from knowing that there are approaches that have proved to be successful in caring for people affected by HIV/AIDS and preventing the spread of HIV.
World AIDS Day will be the high spot of activities that will be organized throughout the year around the chosen theme. It will also build on the action that results from the XIth International Conference on AIDS, to be held in Vancouver, Canada, 7-12 July 1996, which carries the same slogan.
"One World": solidarity in adversity
No individual or country is beyond the reach of HIV and its impact. Whatever the continent, whatever
the culture, whatever the standard of living, people are affected and at risk. UNAIDS estimates that
there are over 20 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS and over five new infections every
minute. In the most affected countries, hospitals are overwhelmed with AIDS patients; schools,
farms and factories are losing skilled employees; children are being born infected or are orphaned
as their parents die of AIDS. Gains made in development are being reversed.
HIV/AIDS is a global problem that cannot be treated in isolation in a world where contacts between communities, travel and migration are constantly on the rise. HIV/AIDS therefore requires a global response. Many poor countries depend on the resources of richer countries for support in their fight against HIV/AIDS. But industrialized countries may benefit from innovative strategies for prevention and care found in developing countries. In Uganda, for example, the AIDS Support Organization has introduced the "post-test club", a group of people - seronegatives and seropositives alike - who meet regularly to exchange experience and to bring each other support. The tools and strategies of protection against HIV/AIDS are of universal interest and relevance. By replicating successful approaches, and by avoiding in one country failures that have occurred elsewhere, needless suffering can be prevented.
" One Hope": the same aspirations the world over
"People around the world hope for a cure, for a vaccine, for an end to discrimination against people
living with HIV/AIDS and an end to denial," says Dr Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS.
"While we are still some way from achieving these goals, there are grounds for optimism".
There is now evidence that efforts to care for people living with HIV/AIDS and to help others to remain uninfected have been successful. Better drugs and simple approaches to treat the most common symptoms of AIDS have been found. In some Western European countries the number of new HIV infections has stabilized and even declined. Particularly effective approaches are a combination of several elements: they enjoy government backing, are protective of human rights, they are adequately resourced and grounded in community action.
While there is therefore hope, much more still needs to be done. Our challenge is to ensure that the successes that are achieved are widely known and can benefit the entire international community. The implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic needs to become a priority consideration in the definition of social and economic development policies. The response to the epidemic must be expanded in scope, quality, and in terms of the funding that is made available.
World AIDS Day activities range from action days in schools and taxi drivers distributing condoms and safe sex information to testimonies at workplaces by people living with HIV/AIDS.