World AIDS Day Is a Global Event
World AIDS Day is also being recognized around the world with some creative events:
- Sydney, Australia: Levi Strauss & Co. sent 11 Australian and New Zealand fashion designers denim jackets to customize, and the "resulting creations" were auctioned to raise money for the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, an AIDS organization in New South Wales. The jackets will be on display at Levi's stores around the country until tomorrow's celebration of World AIDS Day (Alderson, Sydney Morning Herald, 11/21).
- Australia: Condom manufacturer Ansell, maker of "LifeStyles" condoms, is promoting World AIDS Day by featuring red ribbons on condom packages and donating $A10,000 and a percentage of sales from ribbon-marked condom packs to the AIDS Trust of Australia for community awareness of medical research and sexual health (Australasian Business Intelligence, 11/13).
- Beijing, China: The China Family Planning Association will produce a benefit concert in Beijing tonight, featuring several pop singers and celebrities to promote sexual health awareness and safe sex among adolescents. Sponsored in part by the Ford Foundation and UNICEF China, 2,000 students will receive free tickets to the show (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 11/24).
- Beijing, China: The Central People's Broadcasting Station will complete a 20-day program tomorrow on World AIDS Day that was designed to spread information about AIDS prevention by featuring dialogue and taking phone calls on a hotline attended by AIDS experts. The program, "Medicine Consultation Platform," is jointly sponsored by the broadcasting station and UNICEF (BBC/Xinhua News Agency, 11/13).
- Bombay, India: Bombay nongovernmental organizations have organized several events to celebrate World AIDS Day, including a live performance by the rock group Bombay Blues Band; an intercollegiate poster-making and graffitti competition; cricket matches; and AIDS-awareness films. YMCA, Colaba, will hold a free workshop on "AIDS and Alternative Medicine" tomorrow, and Peoples Health Organization will carry today an effigy of the "AIDS Bakasur" through crowded areas of local neighborhoods before burning it on Dec. 9 (Times of India, 11/30).
- Belfast, Ireland: The Voluntary AIDS Forum, composed of the province's five voluntary HIV/AIDS organizations, will hold a major conference to address increased drug use in Northern Ireland, the global issue of HIV, and the fact that homosexual represent nearly two-thirds of new infections in the region. The conference will also feature two reports researched and written by local HIV organization members (Grattan, Belfast Telegraph, 11/25).
- Jerusalem, Israel: The Israel AIDS Task Force opened a Jerusalem branch on Sunday and will host publicity events this week, including a mobile HIV testing unit; a celebrity "acoustic show;" and awareness programs on college campuses. Tomorrow, Health Minister Roni Milo and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai will attend an AIDS event at the city's Einav Cultural Center (Siegel/Gilbert, Jerusalem Post, 11/29).
- Abidjan, Ivory Coast: The National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Program will host a public march in the commune of Port-Boueet tomorrow, aimed at improving the population's awareness of HIV/AIDS (African News Service, 11/28).
- Peshawar, Pakistan: Students of Edwards College Peshawar and Welfare Hand Blood Services will observe World AIDS Day at the school with a speech competition on AIDS designed to raise AIDS awareness (Pakistan Press International, 11/22).
- Warsaw, Poland: The Polish AIDS Center will sponsor free and anonymous HIV tests throughout the country in celebration of World AIDS Day, featuring the slogan, "Don't live in insecurity, take a[n] HIV test" (World News Connection, 11/21).
- Hanoi, Vietnam: Vietnam's National Committees for AIDS, drug and prostitution will organize AIDS awareness activities focusing on remote and isolated areas of high-risk groups of drug addicts and prostitutes as part of the country's month-long campaign of information about HIV/AIDS prevention. The campaign highlights men's role in HIV/AIDS prevention (Xinhua News Agency, 11/8).
- Johannesburg, South Africa: The Road Freight Association will host a march of 100 truck drivers to the Department of Transport today, commemorating South African drivers who die every day from AIDS-related illnesses. The drivers are a "major category of workers vulnerable to HIV infection in the course of their travels," as they tend to be "frequent users of sex workers" (Harvey, Africa News Service, 11/29).
- Gauteng, South Africa: Gauteng will host a variety of activities between today and Dec. 9, including street campaigns and door-to-door and hospital visits, as part of the national five-year strategic plan to curb HIV/AIDS (South African Press Association, 11/27).