World AIDS Day 2020: Theme, History, Significance and Facts

World AIDS Day – 1st December 2020

Every year, 1st December is globally celebrated as World AIDS day to raise awareness on the deadly disease of HIV AIDS. The day aims to support victims suffering from the disease, arranges many awareness and creation programs and celebrates healthcare communities that have been waging war against HIV AIDS and helping patients to combat this disease.

Living life with a condition like HIV AIDS is not easy. It brings a dent to the patient’s personality, and he suffers physically, mentally and feels isolated socially too. To create more room for more knowledge on this disease, improve facilities to treat and spread preventive measures, a particular day is required to promote the observance of HIV AIDS.

World AIDS Day serves as a considerable measure to assist specialists and help the general public in garnering information in this regard. This article focuses on World AIDS Day 2020 concerning its history, significance, themes, celebrations and relevant FAQs.

World AIDS Day History

The first-ever World AIDS day was celebrated in the year 1988. In matters of placing the lens on global health issues, World AIDS Day lay the stepping stone and built an international framework for better health systems. From then on, the United Nations has been actively involved in promoting awareness activities related to AIDS. Various agencies of the UN have come together and joined hands in making the event remarkable and to help those in need.

UN agencies have strived hard to tie up with several government heads to bring up more promotion about the day. Likewise, NGOs, volunteers, civilians and supporting firms have lent their support for the cause and have been contributing every year to champion the noble work.

In the year 1987, James W Bunn and Thomas Netter started a new global program for raising awareness of AIDS. These two people were in charge of global information broadcasting department of the World Health Organisation, specifically for the AIDS disease. Soon after, the Director for the Global AIDS program was brought into the loop, and a new proposal to initiate World AIDS day was formally sent.

Jonathan Mann, who served as the Director at that point of time, was convinced about the idea and began implementation plans. This led to the commencement of formal celebrations from 1st December 1988. The program structure foundation was formally set up for the world by the UN much later in the year 1996. One of the significant highlights of these programs was the introduction of theme-based celebrations, and the norm has been followed every year till date.

Significance of World AIDS Day 2020

World AIDS day is an exclusive day meant to show solidarity, strength and support to patients who are suffering from HIV-AIDS as well as remember those who have lost their lives to the disease. Primary health care needs to be strengthened from the roots to set up a robust health network. If the fundamental needs of healthcare are not given consideration, then it becomes complicated to tackle an epidemic like HIV-AIDS.

Healthcare facilities need to be brought in from the backyard and allowed to play active roles to strengthen the system that has been treating AIDS from several years. The ultimate goal of all these units co-working is to end the pandemic once and for all. Another mission is to help and support the suffering lot and their families.

At the end of the year 2018, global statistics revealed a dull picture with more than 37 million victims of AIDS on medical rolls. If we could study statistics a little more into detail, it presented a greater depth of facts. Only 62% of the suffering victims were able to receive treatment, and a small percentage was close to achieving virus repression.

The most significant risk of this disease is the likely transmission of the virus from one person to another. But so far, this has been a remarkable achievement for the UN World Health Organisation is successfully showing improvements in controlling the disease.

World AIDS Day 2020 Themes

Some of the excellent past year themes are discussed in this section. Let us take a closer look:

• 2012 turned out to be very optimistic with its theme “Together we will end AIDS”.
• 2013 blacked out on any kind of social prejudice and named its theme as “Zero Discrimination”.
• 2014 brought intricate issues to the highlight with its theme “Close the gap”.
• 2015 motivated the medical community with its theme “On the fast-track to end AIDS”.
• 2019 spoke of transition and phase by phase efforts with its theme “Ending the HIV-AIDS epidemic – community by community”.
• 2020 is awaiting an accelerated theme with a deadline to end the epidemic entirely by the year 2030.

World AIDS Day 2020 Celebrations

Many events and activities are organised to commemorate the day and help victims come out of their suffering. An entire day is dedicated to HIV AIDS victims, persons who passed away after suffering from the disease and from the viewpoint of handling the illness in a much better way. Widespread activities of the day include:

• Awareness creation campaigns, media events, health walks and marathons by various agencies.
• The ubiquitous global representation of HIV AIDS is in the form of a crossed red ribbon. Many marches are carried out by volunteers by wearing the red ribbons as a show of support for the victims.
• Forums addressing the issues of HIV AIDS victims and their families are created. These forums discuss common problems of people from various backgrounds.
• Fundraising is an important activity that happens on these days. Many civil organisations and volunteering units conduct mobile camps to pool in funds and create a charitable trust to take care of the treatment needs of the poor and the needy.
• Social media reports spread the news on the day to highlight the importance of the day in newspapers and e-articles.

Conclusion

With more fabulous awareness, people are coming out of their isolation and getting tested for the disease. This shows the increased knowledge building created amongst communities about HIV AIDS. Governments have to follow WHO recommendations to combat this disease and tackle it from its roots strictly. Proper testing facilities, treatment measures, preventive steps and strategic policies help nations in ending this epidemic.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is World AIDS Day?
World AIDS Day provides an excellent opportunity to spread awareness about HIV AIDS, to support people who have been suffering from the disease and solidarity to those who passed away out of HIV related illnesses.

2. What is the theme of World AIDS Day 2020?
The theme for 2020 is yet to be ascertained by the UN World Health Organisation.

3. When was the first World AIDS Day?
The first World AIDS Day celebrations were carried out in the year 1988.

4. Who Started AIDS Day?
In the year 1987, James W Bunn and Thomas Netter, who were global information broadcasting in-charge of WHO for AIDS epidemic initiated the idea of World AIDS Day.

5. Why is 1st December celebrated as AIDS Day?
To appreciate the efforts of medical communities in tackling this disease as well as provide support for people living with HIV, 1st December is chosen as World AIDS Day.

6. How is AIDS caused?
Human immunodeficiency virus causes AIDS. When we come in contact with an affected person’s blood, semen or fluids from the vagina, this disease is easily transmitted.

7. Where is AIDS most common?
Swaziland in South Africa has the highest number of cases of HIV AIDS according to current statistics.