Caribbean Observes World AIDS Day with ‘2030’ Eradication Pledge

World AIDS Day, held on December 1 each year, offers an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.

Brown urged everyone in the room to take advantage of the health department’s free on-site testing.

HIV and Aids activist, Maziko Matemba said gay persons have a right to access treatment despite the country outlawing homosexuality. “You have angered many in this community and we’d like to remind you that you actually CHOSE to contract HIV!” “In Latino and African-American communities, individuals are not getting tested”. “They will protect them if they are HIV-positive, but they will not protect them if they are not HIV-positive”. Amitabh Bachchan, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Shabana Azmi, Suhashini Maniratnam, Anushka Shetty, Sudeep, Suriya, Imran Khan and Shruti Hassan have given their voice for the animations to promote HIV prevention among Indian youth.

On Tuesday, celebrities and supporters in the fight against HIV/AIDS puckered up with red lipstick, blew a kiss, and took a selfie and posted it with the message “HIV is still an epidemic, help us #KissOffHIV and remember #WorldAIDSDay #Moovz” or “Get Tested, stay informed, #KissOffHIV on #WorldAIDSDay #Moovz”. “PrEP”- pre-exposure prophylaxis – keeps the virus from finding a home in your body. Campaigns that have been run by the Terrence Higgins Trust and the Steve Retson Project have been very effective in encouraging gay and bisexual men to know their status and to have a consistent routine for testing.

About 60,000 residents countywide live with HIV, according to the county’s year-end data for 2013.

The global HIV/AIDS organization is using information resourced from its database to map where incidents of HIV/AIDS infections are occurring and where services are needed the most and pairing it with local civil service organizations and community groups.

Low-income countries, as well as impoverished communities continue to see new cases, which according to USAIDS speaks to the disparity in investments in prevention in those areas.

Blacks also are diagnosed at a higher annual rate than whites or Latinos: 50 per 100,000, more than triple the rate of whites and almost triple that of Latinos.

Let’s just make this clear: if you practice unsafe sex, whether that is with a man or a woman – you’re at risk of contracting HIV. “It is in my opinion that personal responsibility… and personal responsibility to talk about these matters, is important if we are going to make strides to combat and eliminate HIV and to reduce transmissions”. How many would think that it’s not something they need to care about because they aren’t having sex with men, prostitutes or drug users? The national goal for World AIDS Day this year is “Getting to Zero: zero new infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS related deaths”. No one is curing AIDS. Anything other than that, I feel, is falling short. “I’m seeing a lot of adolescents”, said Beauchamps, who treats patients at Open Arms Healthcare Center in Jackson. And the biggest factor contributing to homophobia is still the Black church.

“That’s the thing that kind of scares me a little bit”, said Ismael Morales, The Center’s director of Health and Wellness. HIV Alliance now provides care coordination, nursing case management and pharmaceutical support to over 850 people living with HIV/AIDS in eleven counties. “Some get infected by it. Some others are affected by it. Overall, all of us are at risk of HIV”. The ribbon is internationally recognized as the symbol of HIV awareness.