World Aids Day is December 1st – a day when the entire world comes together to fight against HIV, show support for those who are living with HIV, and remember those who have gone too soon from AIDS-related illnesses. Founded in 1988, World Aids Day was the first global health day ever.
According to World AIDS Day:
Over 100,000 people are living with HIV in the UK. Globally, there are an estimated 36.7 million people who have the virus. Despite the virus only being identified in 1984, more than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.
It is an important day of awareness so that we do not forget that HIV/AIDS still affects our world and, primarily, our LGBTQ community. Through education, World AIDS Day aims to breakdown the stigmas related to HIV/AIDS and to hopefully end discrimination and injustice of people who live with the condition.
In honor of World AIDS Day, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation are putting together a free concert that will be one of the many observances for World AIDS Day. On November 30th the concert will be held at the Shrine Auditorium in Hollywood, CA and will be hosted by Laverne Cox and Mario Lopez and feature Mariah Carey and DJ Khaled.
The concert is free, but RSVP is required HERE
This year, AHF celebrates its 30th anniversary and having 820,000 lives in its care. AHF is the world’s largest AIDS organization.
AHF President, Michael Weinstein said in a press release:
This year’s World AIDS Day is particularly meaningful for AHF because it marks several historic milestones for us, including AHF having over 833,000 patients in our care around the world as we celebrate our 30th anniversary this year. When AHF began as the AIDS Hospice Foundation in 1987, we were facing dire circumstances and a lot of uncertainty at the beginning of the epidemic. Each day we were fighting just to keep AIDS patients from having to die in the streets or overcrowded hospitals. Today, even though millions of people with HIV worldwide are thankfully living longer, healthier lives due to access to better medical treatments, the urgency of winning the war against AIDS here in the U.S. and around the globe has diminished. Our hope is that our big concert events will help keep the spotlight on the need for nations to keep their promise to do all they can to stop HIV/AIDS from claiming additional lives. We couldn’t be more excited to have Mariah Carey take the stage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to show her support for our cause. As one of the most celebrated voices of all time, we know this concert event will be one for the history books.
In addition to the concert in Los Angeles, AHF will host free concerts in Haiti, Mexico City, around other parts of the United States—including a concert with Sheila E, Becky G, and Reggaeton artist Yandel at the Bayfront Park Amphiteatre in Miami, FL on December 1st. Free awareness and testing events will also take place throughout the U.S., Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Asia.
Check out Worlds AIDS Day for more information on how you can be a part of this important day of awareness
