World AIDS Day 2024: What is the theme for this year? Know date, history and more

Updated on: Dec 1, 2024, 10:05:20 IST

By Adrija Dey

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World AIDS Day is aimed at raising awareness about HIV/AIDS.

World AIDS Day 2024: It is held on December 1 to raise awareness about the prevention. From theme to history, here's all you need to know.

World AIDS Day 2024: Every year, World AIDS Day is observed on December 1. First observed in 1988, it is now marked annually to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS while also recognising and honouring the lives lost. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is the most advanced stage of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) infection when the body’s immune system is severely weakened and damaged. Striving for an AIDS-free world, each year’s theme is rooted in advocacy and raising awareness about the disease.

ALSO READ: Empowering India's youth: Key to HIV prevention

World AIDS Day 2024 theme

With WHO’s aim of eliminating AIDS by 2030, constant efforts are required, starting with advocacy and raising awareness. This year’s theme is “Take the Rights Path: My Health, My Right!” WHO implores global leaders and citizens to promote the right to health by tackling the inequalities that hinder progress in the fight to end AIDS.

With a focus on health as a fundamental human right, WHO emphasizes the importance of equal access to treatment while addressing the stigma and discrimination that may impede the vision of an AIDS-free world. Educating people about prevention is also integral to achieving this goal. This day also marks the importance of human rights in the fight against AIDS for equal treatment and elimination of stigma.

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History of Worlds Aids Day

The day was first observed in 1988 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to steer global attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It was devised by public information officers James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter to lower the stigma associated with and inform the public. especially since HIV/AIDS has no cure, precautions such as practising safe sex, using clean needles, and ensuring blood safety to prevent transmission are strongly emphasized.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adrija Dey
Adrija Dey’s proclivity for observation fuels her storytelling instinct. As a lifestyle journalist, she crafts compelling, relatable narratives across diverse touchpoints of the human experience, including wellness, mental health, relationships, interior design, home decor, food, travel, and fashion that gently nudge readers toward living a little better. For her, stories exist in flesh and bones, carried by human vessels and shaped through everyday endeavours. It is the small stories we live and share that make us human. After all, humans and their lores are the most natural and raw repositories of stories, and uncovering them, for her, is akin to peeling an orange under a winter afternoon sun. Always up for a chat, she believes the best stories come from unfiltered yapping, where "too much information" is kind of the point. A graduate of Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, and an alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, Adrija spends her idle hours cocooned with herbal tea and a gripping thriller, scribbling inner monologues she loosely calls poetic pieces, often with her succulents in attendance. On lazier days, she can be found binge-watching, for the nth time, one from her comfort-show holy trinity: The Office (US), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or Modern Family. Dancing by herself to her peppy playlists, however, is an everyday ritual she swears by religiously.Read More

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