World AIDS Day Falls On Giving Tuesday

December 1st is the 32nd annual World AIDS Day that honors those we have lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with this year’s theme “Global Solidarity, Shared Responsibility”. It’s also Giving Tuesday the annual opportunity to support causes that shape our future. Founded in 1988 World AIDS Day was the first ever-international day for global health. Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea to be a day that encourages people to do good. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic this is a much-needed concept to reach out to the organizations that need our help the most as we strive to heal this country & around the world. António Guterres UN Secretary-General stated, “With the world’s attention focused on the COVID-19 crisis, World AIDS Day is a reminder of the need to maintain focus on another global pandemic that is still with us nearly 40 years after it emerged. Despite significant successes, the AIDS emergency is not over. HIV still infects 1.7 million people each year & kills some 690,000. And inequalities mean that those who are the least able to stand up for their rights are still the most affected. COVID-19 has been a wake-up call to the world. Inequalities in health affect all of us. No one is safe unless we all are safe. The HIV response has much to teach the fight against COVID-19. We know that to end AIDS & defeat COVID-19 we must eliminate stigma & discrimination, put people at the center & ground our responses in human rights & gender-responsive approaches...”