Every year on the third Sunday of May it is customary to remember people who died from AIDS. This is being done, among other things, in order to attract the attention of the world community to the problems of AIDS patients and carriers of HIV infection and the spread of this disease in the world.
For the first time, World Remembrance Day of AIDS Victims was celebrated in San Francisco, America in 1983. A few years later, a symbol of the movement against this disease appeared. It was a red ribbon pinned to clothes, as well as multi-colored — quilts sewn from scraps of fabric in memory of many people who have passed away. These attributes were invented in 1991 by artist Frank Moore. Currently, on World AIDS Day, activists of this action and simply caring people attach red ribbons to their clothes.
HIV infection — is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. HIV affects the human immune system, eventually preventing it from resisting other diseases and infections. AIDS — is the last stage of development of HIV infection.
According to statistics from the World Health Association, there are 42 million people on the planet (as of 2020) infected with the immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and every day this figure increases by another 14–15 thousand. Most HIV-infected — young people under the age of 30. More than 37 million HIV-infected people have died.
About two thirds of all AIDS cases live in Africa. According to some scientists, on the «black continent», every third adult is infected with HIV; There are countries where more than 90 percent of the total population is infected with the virus.
It is in Africa, as doctors believe, that AIDS first appeared. The first mention of AIDS appeared in the 1980s, and soon the disease began to be called «chuma of the 20th century».
Today, the third Sunday of May, people all over the world remember family, friends, acquaintances who died of AIDS. Activists of the anti-HIV movement are holding lectures and other educational events aimed at warning people about the risk of infection and teaching them to avoid danger. There are also many commemorative and charitable events around the world.
Let us remind you that World AIDS Day is celebrated annually on December 1st.