World AIDS Day

Last Saturday was World AIDS Day. Every year UCLA has a big event to raise awareness of the disease and I was disappointed to miss it but was excited to take part in World AIDS Day abroad. There were some events in Paris. There was an exhibit set up at Hotel de Ville with images and thoughts about the disease (like would you still look at me the same way if you knew). I think the most important message about World AIDS Day is to educate people about how to protect yourself and how there should not be any stigma attached to the disease. I'm doing a research project on human rights violations in China related to HIV/AIDS and here are some facts I've found while researching

• One person dies every 8 seconds due to complications from AIDS.
• One person is infected with HIV every 6 seconds.
• In 2006 an estimated 40 million people are infected with HIV and 2.8 million will die from complications of AIDS related illnesses, 95% from the developing world

Hopefully you too celebrated World AIDS Day!