The adage “leave the past behind” took on special meaning during this year’s observance of #WorldAIDSDay.
To mark the Dec. 1 anniversary of the first-ever global health day in 1988, the theme “Not Retro, Just Wrong” was splashed across social media and news websites worldwide.
Many young people may not know—or recall—the early days of public fear and misinformation that surrounded AIDS.
ABC News framed the history this way:
It has been 35 years since researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported on a mysterious illness that was infecting and killing otherwise healthy young men.
The CDC report from 1981 was the first time that what we now know as AIDS was mentioned in medical literature.
In those early days, little was known about the disease. Today researchers understand a great deal about how HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the immune system and leads to AIDS. While treatment, prevention and education have saved many lives, researchers continue to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS and find a cure.
Since the 1981 report, AIDS has claimed 35 million lives globally, according to the World Health Organization.
Public health leaders promote self-testing and other preventive measures daily. However, the 2016 observance of #WorldAIDSDay was a mix of opportunities to educate people about the disease.
For example, RED—defined as a licensed conglomeration of brands including Nike, American Express, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Apple that “seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa”—partnered with Belvedere Vodka and musician John Legend to raise awareness.
VIRTUAL SUMMIT: Solve business problems and increase employee engagement using SharePoint and Office 365.
Belvedere’s #MaketheDifference campaign created a “limited edition bottle with 50 percent of its profits from every bottle sold being donated to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.”
In Britain, GayTimes.co.UK shared a light-hearted video of Prince Harry and Rhianna getting screened for HIV:
Pop music royalty Rihanna joined forces with actual royalty today, as she and Prince Harry got tested for HIV on camera in an attempt to raise awareness and tackle stigma on World AIDS Day.
The video, shared by Kensington Palace’s official Twitter account, shows the British Prince getting a HIV test alongside Rihanna during a visit to her birth island Barbados, to “show how easy the process is”.
Elton John tweeted about the global observance as well:
Whoopi Goldberg—co-host of “The View”—shared her experiences about joining the fight against the disease in the 1980s.
Others who are passionate about the cause, but who don’t have that level of name recognition, also did their part to raise awareness:
(Image via)
from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2h1Iz0k
No comments:
Post a Comment