by Susannah Indigo
(12/01/01)

World AIDS Day, observed annually on December 1, takes on particular significance in 2001, since it marks twenty years of battling the disease. While there has been a great deal of progress on the treatment front, there is no cure, and the battle is far from over. Here's the watch for 2001, according the World Health Organization and UNAIDS:

• AIDS is the world's number one cause of death among infectious diseases
• AIDS killed 500,000 children and 2.5 million adults last year
• Every 24 hours, 14,000 people contract AIDS
• 90 percent of the people who have AIDS don't know it
• AIDS is now the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Worldwide, AIDS is the fourth biggest killer.
• At the end of 2001, an estimated 40 million people globally are living with HIV
• About one-third of those currently living with HIV/AIDS are aged 15-24

• Watch the MTV special Staying Alive, a half-hour documentary hosted by Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs that looks at the life of young people who are affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS, and make sure young people around you watch it.

• Consider your knowledge of what's happening -- do you know what countries have the fastest rising rate of HIV infections?...and no, they're not in Africa.

• View some of the most powerful art in the world: find out what's happening with the AIDS Quilt, and note that you can buy lovely quilt calendars, posters, and other things to help support them.

• Donate to AIDS research now.

• Know that there are FDA approved home tests for HIV available, and make sure that young people around you know this too.

• Take a minute and visit the virtual AIDS memorial, sponsored by TheBody.com, one of the best sites around with facts and information.

• And last but not least, read stories and poems -- there is no better way to make sure you truly feel something than to absorb it through art:

  Kid Talk, poems from camp
  Kiss Kiss, Hug Hug, by M. Christian
  For Joe, by Bob McCranie
  Still Life With Buddy, by Leslea Newman
  The Music Within Us, by Dennis Rhodes
  An audio interview with Edmund White on "The Farewell Symphony"
  Ode to Derma Plastique by Jamie Joy Gatto