According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 39.5 million people living with HIV, including 2.3 million children, and during 2006 some 4.3 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

Started in 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

AIDS In America and African Americans:

It is not an exaggeration to say that HIV/AIDS is an epidemic in the African American community.

Quick Facts:

• African Americans have accounted for 40% of AIDS diagnoses since the beginning of the epidemic.
• The HIV/AIDS infection rate among Black men is 6 times that of white men and the rate among Black women is 16 times that of white women.
• In 2004, more African American children (under the age of 13) were living with AIDS than were children of all other races and ethnicities living with AIDS combined.
• AIDS is the leading cause of death of Blacks, age 25-44.
• AIDS is the leading cause of death for Black women.
• Every day in the U.S. about 100 people of color become infected with HIV.