World AIDS Day Is Dec. 1

November 30, 2006 -- According to the United Nations and World Health Organization's annual update on the global AIDS epidemic, almost 40 million people are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 and 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.

To raise public awareness of the problem of AIDS worldwide, the World Health Organization declared Dec. 1 World AIDS Day. This year’s theme is accountability, calling on political leaders to keep their promises, to set the targets necessary to reach universal access to care, treatment, and support, and to make all the necessary resources available in order to overcome the AIDS pandemic.

There are several National Academies reports on AIDS and HIV. Public Financing and Delivery of HIV/AIDS Care: Securing the Legacy of Ryan White examines the current standard of care for HIV patients and recommends an expanded federal program for the treatment of individuals with HIV, administered at the state level. Scaling Up Treatment for the Global AIDS Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities outlines steps necessary to implement a rapid "scale-up" of antiretroviral therapy initiatives to meet larger needs of resource-poor countries heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS. Healers Abroad: Americans Responding to the Human Resource Crisis in HIV/AIDS explores potential strategies for mobilizing U.S. health personnel and technical experts to assist in the battle against HIV/AIDS in 15 African, Caribbean, and Southeast Asian countries highly affected by the disease.

• Public Financing and Delivery of HIV/AIDS Care: Securing the Legacy of Ryan White 2005
• Scaling Up Treatment for the Global AIDS Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities 2004
• Healers Abroad: Americans Responding to the Human Resource Crisis in HIV/AIDS 2005
• Searchable HIV/AIDS Collection

• World AIDS Campaign
• UNAIDS