AIDS/HIV a ready reckoner: Causes, symptoms and treatment

World AIDS Day on Dec 1 is used to unite people in the fight against HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus first identified in 1984, to show their support for people living with HIV and commemorate those who have died.

Despite major advances, HIV/AIDS remains one of the world’s most significant public health challenges, particularly in low and middle income countries, with new diagnoses every year and young women in sub-Saharan Africa seen as being particularly at risk.

A 13-year-old girl living with AIDS and who lost both parents to the disease, taking her drugs at her grandmothers house in Kenya.(AFP)

World AIDS Day on Dec 1 is used to unite people in the fight against HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus first identified in 1984, to show their support for people living with HIV and commemorate those who have died.

The member countries of the United Nations agreed in September in a new set of global goals to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Here are some facts about AIDS with data from the World Health Organisation, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF, and UNAIDS: