Health Checkup
World AIDS Day: Let’s End The HIV/AIDS Epidemic
December 1, 2020
Each year on 1st December, people from all around the world come together and join the worldwide event to fight against HIV AIDS. World AIDS Day is probably the first-ever global health day and was founded on 1st December 1988. HIV is a major global public health issue and 38 million people all around the world suffer from it. The virus was first identified in 1984, and since then it has claimed around 35 million lives in such a short period, this is the reason why it’s known as a major global health issue.
There is still a lot of unawareness on this subject and despite all such events, there is still a lot to do. Third world countries and countries with fragile health systems do not have proper test and treatment kits for HIV patients and the lack of knowledge makes it only worse. During these covid times, due to their immunity being low, the health of patients suffering from such life threatening diseases is at high risk. So, for those suffering from HIV, special care and precautions are important and the health care sectors should have all the facilities and care for their patients.
Importance of World AIDS Day
The main reason why the world aids day is celebrated is to raise awareness and educate people about aids, ways of its transmission, how it could be avoided, and what should be the diet. Due to the lack of awareness, people face discrimination and the stigma attached to AIDS is exactly why World AIDS Day is needed. Celebrating World AIDS Day is important as it reminds the world that HIV is still there and we need to be together to fight with it. It is to provide homage and respect to all those people who died or are suffering from this terrible disease.
The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day is “Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Resilience & Impact”. You can also get involved in this event by participating directly from your home, some people wear red ribbons to support this cause. Every year people come together to celebrate this event by organizing activities that might help everyone to understand the effects of this disease better.
World AIDS Day Awareness Campaigns
To raise awareness among all sections of society, to stop the spread and to keep up with the celebrations of these events, campaigns play a very important role. Every year there is a campaign with a special sub cause and all these causes and the year they were celebrated in are given below, have a look.
2011: Getting to Zero
2012: Together we will end AIDS
2013: Zero Discrimination
2014: Close the Gap
2015: On the Fast-Track to end AIDS
2016: Hands up for HIV Prevention
2017: My Health and My Right
2018: Know Your Status
2019: Communities Make the Difference
2020: Global Solidarity, Shared Responsibility
Get Involved
If you want to be a part of this celebration, then you can take part directly from your home too. Due to the covid conditions, most of the events are going to be conducted online and anyone from their school, college, or university can take part in this event. The campaign material and toolkits are available easily and you can prepare messages, create collateral materials, share resources, and continue the momentum of the event and all the campaigns involved in it.
Helpful Food Products and Diet
Although there are no specific food products available that can help in curing AIDS, a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help in increasing immunity. Living in these covid times has made one thing sure, that immunity and good health are very important as it reduces the risk of any type of bacteria or viruses from attacking your system. Given below are some ways to keep healthy and fit.
- Including Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
- Including Lean protein such as eggs, beans, fish, poultry, beef, and nuts
- Adding whole Grains
- Limiting the use of sugar and salt
- Consuming healthy fats and the right amount of calories
- Drinking plenty of fluids
WHO Response
WHO wanted to come up with some strategies that can make it easy to fight HIV, so the 69th world health assembly came up with a new “Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV 2016-2021”. These five decisions or strategies include actions needed to be taken by countries and WHO over 6 years.
The strategies are:
- Information for focused action (know your epidemic and response)
- Intervention for Impact (Covering the range of services needed)
- Delivering for Equity (Covering the population in need of services)
- Financing for Sustainability (Covering the cost of services)
- Innovation for Acceleration (Looking towards the future)
The important thing to keep in mind is that AIDS is a dangerous disease and anyone suffering from this disease should not be discriminated against. Proper knowledge and information about AIDS are very important and that is why World AIDS Day is celebrated all around the world. Anybody who participates in these events can come up and give their contribution in any way they can. Not only on World AIDS Day, but all of us should also be aware and keep people around us aware of AIDS and encourage people to go for regular health checkups. The only way we can fight off this evil disease is by joining hands and being together, our unity is our strength.
Written By: Swapnil Bisht
Swapnil believes words are souveniers. Grumpy when woken from a slumber. Can be found quoting Bob Dylan or feeding dogs.