Hands Up for #HIV Prevention is theme for Dec 1, 2016 is World Aids Day

December 8, 2016

128 4 minutes read

World aids day is celebrated every year all over the world on 1^st of December to raise the public awareness about AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). AIDS is a pandemic disease caused due to the infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The day is celebrated by the government organizations, NGOs, civil society and other health officials by organizing the speeches or forums discussion related to the AIDS.

The President of United States declared an official announcement for World AIDS Day in the year 1995 which was started following by other countries all across the world. According to the rough estimation, around 25 million people died from 1981 to 2007 because of the HIV infection. Even after the access of antiretroviral treatment at many places, around 2 million people (at least 270,000 of total were children) in 2007 were infected with this epidemic disease.

World AIDS Day was first visualized by the Thomas Netter and James W. Bunn in the month of August in 1987. Thomas Netter and James W. Bunn both are the public information officers for the AIDS Global Programme at the WHO (World Health Organization) in Geneva, Switzerland. They had shared their idea about the AIDS day to Dr. Jonathan Mann (Director of the AIDS Global Programme), who had approved the idea and recommended the World AIDS Day observance on 1^st of December in the year 1988.

World AIDS Day celebration was decided by them to be celebrated every year on 1^st of December accurately. They thought that it should be decided far from the election time, Christmas holidays or other holidays. It should be celebrated during time when people and news media could pay more interest and attention in broadcasting the news all across the world.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, also known as the UNAIDS, came into effect in the year 1996 and started promoting worldwide. Instead of being celebrated for only one day, World AIDS Campaign was launched by the UNAIDS in the year 1997 to focus on the AIDS programs, better communications, disease prevention and disease awareness learning for whole year.

In the starting years, the World AIDS Day themes were focused only on the children as well as the young people, which were later recognized as a family disease as any person of any age group can be infected with HIV. Since 2007, the World Aids Day was started symbolizing by an iconic display of AIDS Ribbon by the White House.

World AIDS Day celebration has become the most recognized health days celebrations internationally. World AIDS Day celebration offers the key opportunity to the health organizations to increase the awareness among people, most possible access to the treatment as well as discussing the preventive measures.

World Aids Day Theme

UNAIDS started organizing the World AIDS Day campaign to be celebrated with the particular annual themes for better global awareness about the disease. Following are the list of all the year wise themes of World Aids Day:

The theme of the year 1988 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Communication”.
The theme of the year 1989 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Youth”.
The theme of the year 1990 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Women and AIDS”.
The theme of the year 1991 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Sharing the Challenge”.
The theme of the year 1992 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Community Commitment”.
The theme of the year 1993 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Act”.
The theme of the year 1994 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “AIDS and the Family”.
The theme of the year 1995 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Shared Rights, Shared Responsibilities”.
The theme of the year 1996 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “One World and One Hope”.
The theme of the year 1997 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Children Living in a World with AIDS”.
The theme of the year 1998 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign with Young People”.
The theme of the year 1999 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children and Young People”.
The theme of the year 2000 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “AIDS: Men Make a Difference”.
The theme of the year 2001 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “I care. Do you”?
The theme of the year 2002 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stigma and Discrimination”.
The theme of the year 2003 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stigma and Discrimination”.
The theme of the year 2004 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS”.
The theme of the year 2005 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise”.
The theme of the year 2006 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise-Accountability”.
The theme of the year 2007 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise- Leadership”.
The theme of the year 2008 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise-Lead-Empower-Deliver”.
The theme of the year 2009 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Universal Access and Human Rights”.
The theme of the year 2010 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Universal Access and Human Rights”.
The theme from the year 2011 to 2015 for World Aids Day campaign was, “Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths”