World AIDS Day History

World AIDS Day History

World AIDS Day has a history that dates back more than twenty years to 1987. Two public information officers named James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter who worked for the World Health Organization in the Global Programme on AIDS decided there should be a day to raise awareness about AIDS globally. Bunn and Netter took their proposal for World AIDS Day to the director of the Global Programme on AIDS Jonathan Mann. Mann liked the idea and recommended the fist World AIDS day commence on December 1, 1988.

The decision to make December 1 World AIDS Day was made by Bunn and Netter because they felt it was perfect timing to attract and keep attention on the message . Dec 1st was perfect timing because it was after the general elections but before Christmas making it an effective date to garner attention for the cause of AIDS. Eventually the focus on raising awareness about AIDS would become a more organized effort when in 1996 the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) would take over the planning of World AIDS and focus on AIDS awareness through education and prevention as a mission beyond one day of the year.
Themes of World AIDS Day

An important part of World AIDS Day history is the understanding of how the formation of one day has lead to a large movement to address the AIDS pandemic which has affected the lives of many people on a global scale.

It has been estimated that more than 25 million people have died from AIDS since 1981. Also, as of 2010, there are more than 33 million people living with HIV throughout the world. With this disease affecting so many people at such on such a large scale, it was necessary to draw attention to the disease in order to raise funds for research. It is also important to educate people about HIV and AIDS in order to prevent the spread of the disease and provide general education about the disease so people can be informed and knowledgeable about the disease on many levels.

Each year on December 1st, World AIDS Day is acknowledged and there is a theme for each year. Up until 2004 UNAIDS was responsible for choosing the various themes for World AIDS Day. From 2005 until 2010, the World AIDS Campaign's Global Steering Committee is responsible for choosing a theme. From 2005-2010 the major theme has been “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” in order to ensure politicians keep their promise to provide extensive HIV/AIDS related services.