History, significance and theme of World AIDS Day 2020

New Delhi: World Aids Day is observed on December 1 in order to raise awareness and to unite people worldwide in the fight against the global health issue of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

It is also important to fight the stigma pertaining to AIDS and to provide care and support to those who are already living with the disease.

The cause of AIDS is the spread of the life-threatening human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which attacks the immune system of the patient and significantly reduces the body's resistance to other diseases. The disease serves as the final stage of people who live with HIV.

However, with proper care and medical health, HIV positive people can live a long healthy life.

On a global level, 38 million (approx.) people are living with HIV.

It was first discovered in 1984 and since then, the virus has killed more than 35 million people, making it one of the most deadly diseases in human history

Dr Ranjana Becon, a gynaecologist at Columbia Asia Hospital in Ghaziabad says that Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by human immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV), is transmitted through use of contaminated syringe for medical purposes or shared activities such as injecting drugs into the bloodstream, unprotected sexual intercourse or from an infected mother to child during pregnancy, birth or through breastfeeding.

World AIDS  Day was first designated in August 1988 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, to receive some semblance of control over the disease that had claimed so many.

Both James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter were public information officers for the AIDS Global Program of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

They conveyed the idea for the observation of this day to the Director of the AIDS Global Program, Dr Jonathan Mann, who approved it for December 1.

Each year World Aid's Day is observed with a particular theme in mind.

For the year 2020, the theme is, 'Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Resilience and Impact,' which focuses on creating global solidarity among people who live with HIV and also seek to destigmatise the health issue.

The theme also put stress on the importance of providing resilient care and support even during the coronavirus pandemic.

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