World AIDS Day 2024: Theme, History, Significance, Symptoms, And Quotes

World AIDS Day is dedicated to spreading awareness about HIV prevention.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been commemorating it on December 1 over the past 33 years. On this day, many governmental organisations and NGOs host special events across the globe to educate people about this fatal disease, its treatment and other important aspects of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). People also come together to remember those who have lost their lives due to AIDS-related complications in the past.

The world has yet to find a medicine that can treat HIV infection from the core. While the disease remains incurable, precaution is now the only way to prevent it. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is highly contagious as HIV can be transmitted through the exchange of certain bodily fluids. That’s why sharing needles, syringes and other injection accessories with an AIDS patient may lead to the infection.

World AIDS Day, established by the WHO and the United Nations, was first observed in 1988 in response to the global effect of the HIV epidemic. In 1981, the first case of AIDS was reported in the United States and two years later, researchers could have identified the virus that causes the disease.

World AIDS Day 2024 Theme
Like every year, the WHO has announced a special theme for the 2024 World AIDS Day. The organisation aims to highlight how human rights can be a key to achieving the “Sustainable Development Goals” target of ending AIDS by 2030. This year, the theme for World AIDS Day is– “Take the Rights Path: My Health, My Right!”

“A rights-based approach is not just a strategy; it is a commitment to uphold the dignity, health, and autonomy of every individual, especially those with vulnerabilities and are most at-risk. We must boldly tackle the stigma and discrimination that stand as formidable barriers to accessing prevention, treatment, and care,” WHO shared on its official website.

AIDS Early Signs & Symptoms
AIDS is often hard to be identified at an early stage as the initial symptoms vary from person to person. When someone is infected with HIV, he or she can experience fever, sore throat, headache and swollen lymph nodes two or four weeks after exposure.

AIDS is considered the ultimate stage of HIV infection when the patient’s immune system is affected. They may suffer from persistent diarrhoea, unusual weight loss, night sweats, shortness of breath and even severe conditions like tuberculosis (TB), herpes and pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP).

World AIDS Day Significance
The occasion promotes the prevention of AIDS, advocates for those battling HIV infection, raises awareness about its fatal effect and pays tribute to those who have lost their lives to this illness.

World AIDS Day Quotes

• Prevention is better than cure, especially when something has no cure.
• Hate the disease, not the diseased.
• Spread knowledge to eliminate the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS.
• Discrimination can hurt more than the disease itself.
• Only proper education and awareness can remove AIDS.