The theme for World AIDS Day 2006 is Accountability. The overall theme of accountability is being reinforced with the slogan, “Stop AIDS: Keep The Promise”.

Accountability is all the more critical as governments should now be in the process of setting national targets as called for by the World AIDS Council in its June Political Declaration–and due at the end of 2006. These targets will define the global response to HIV and AIDS over the next several years. However, around the world there is little clarity about how this process is moving forwards.

The World AIDS Campaign and its partners call on all governmental leaders to be accountable for the promises they have made, to set the targets necessary to reach universal access to care, treatment and support, and to make all the necessary resources available in order to overcome the AIDS pandemic.

World AIDS Day was first declared by the World Health Organization and the United Nations General Assembly (Resolution 43/15) in 1988. Since then, it has progressively become one of the most successful “international days” for raising awareness on a global issue.

Thousands of events will be held around the world on and around December 1st, 2006. Some of the events are posted on the World AIDS Campaign website.

According to UNAIDS, an estimated 39.5 million adults and children are living with HIV. Approximately 4.3 million became newly infected with HIV in 2006 and 2.9 million died due to AIDS-related illnesses. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, but no country is unaffected, and incidence rates are rising in a number of developed countries.

Although expanded access to treatment is estimated to have averted 250,000 to 350,000 deaths between 2003 and 2005, globally, antiretroviral drugs still reach only one in five who need them.

2006 is the 25th anniversary of the identification of AIDS–Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome–although evidence exists to suggest earlier cases. More than 25 million people have died of AIDS-related causes since 1981.

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The following is an excerpt of a conference call given by Dr. Paul Zeitz of the Global AIDS Alliance on November 28th, 2006:

“Just a few opening comments, as you may know, the UN released a report on the latest update about the AIDS epidemic, and the report showed that the virus is still far outpacing our efforts to control it. Nearly a half a million more people became newly infected in HIV during 2006 than in 2004 with a total of 39.5 million people now living with the virus. There is also – there was also really disappointing news that another three million people succumbed to the disease during 2006.

The report also showed that the epidemic has increased sharply in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the number of newly infected people jumping by 70 percent this year alone. There’s also some concerns that the epidemic continues to grow in Southern Africa, Mozambique, South Africa, and Swaziland, specifically. There were some good news reports as well though that countries like Kenya and Malawi have shown a reduction in the number of new infections in young people, specifically, and the East African epidemic seems to be stabilizing.

So in the context of those findings, we’re having this call, and I’m going to just spend a couple of minutes now talking about U.S. policy. And as you know, President Bush launched an initiative three years ago, The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and we understand that they’re going to be providing a report later in the week giving an update about how many people they’ve gotten on life saving AIDS medicines, and so forth.

We know that the President’s plan has made a commitment for two million people on treatment by the end of 2008, but earlier this year, there was an international agreement signed onto by the President to achieve universal access to prevention, treatment and care by 2010, just four years from now. And unfortunately there is no real U.S. strategy to reach that target.

And so we’re hoping that as President Bush considers ways in terms of updating and upgrading the President’s Emergency Plan, that he’ll take heed of the lessons learned, and fix some of the policies that have been flawed, and move forward with a more robust U.S. support to the global response. We’re sure that the Democratic Congress that will be in power starting in January will be doing a lot of work to fix the obvious flaws to the program, and then we’re all committed to working towards ending the polarization that has been playing out in the AIDS arena, and move forward with a joint administration and Congressional initiative that can really go to the next level.

We hope that the U.S. will continue to increase its support to the global fund, which is shown to be quite effective in all these areas of AIDS treatment and orphans response. Violence is a key issue that needs further support, and we’ll hear more about that on the call. Universal education for girls is critical, and the U.S. has not stepped up to the plate on that. The orphan’s crisis remains completely unaddressed, and the biggest problem with the President’s initiative is the prevention policies which are unfortunately undermining some global efforts, and really need to be corrected in the coming months.“

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On a personal note, I would urge each and everyone of you that is sexually active–female, male, gay, straight, or other–to make yearly testing for the HIV virus a part of your annual health maintenance. Being proactive and practicing safer sex should be a part of your moral duty. But, it is only through proper medical testing and screening for HIV-anitbodies that you can ensure your sexual health and that of your partner(s).

I didn’t become sexually active until I was 18. Within that year, I had my first screening and it was a stressful experience. Not so much because I had exposed myself to risky sexual behavior, but the sheer fear and unease of going through the process a first time. Now, my doctor just adds the test to my annual blood panel screenings. Not only does it give me peace of mind, but it serves as a reminder the importance of practicing safer sex and knowing the history of any potential sexual partners. (Of course, as we are all painfully aware, my current on-going celibacy precludes my current practice of safe sex. {That’s not actually completely true, but I’ll spare you the uncomfortable details.} However, I’ve got condoms. Just in case. Wishful thinking. Uhm, nevermind.)

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On this day, I urge you to arm yourself with knowledge, get tested, and think of donating your time and/or money to organizations who work to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and offer critical support services to those living with the disease.

Keep your promise.