World Aids Day

December 1 is World AIDS Day. According to United Nations estimates, 39. 5 million people are now living with HIV, including 2.3 million children, and during 2006 some 4.3 million people became infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

Around 95 percent of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing countries. But HIV is a real threat to men, women, and children on all continents around the world.

Started in 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about raising awareness, fighting prejudice, and improving education. It is important for all of us to observe this day — to reminding people that HIV has not gone away and that there are many things still to be done.

To name this day, visit the following sites for information and things to do:

• www.worldaidscampaign.info
Special messages, themes, and key constituencies including faith communities observing the day

• www.avert.org/worldaid.htm
The theme for World AIDS Day, ideas on what you can do, and a quiz to take.

• Global Health Council-HIV/AIDS
Statistics, global disparity, women and AIDS, reasons for hope

Watch these DVD movies:

• 3 Needles
Three riveting dramas about the AIDS crisis set in South Africa, China, and Canada open our eyes and our hearts to victims of this dread disease.

• Longtime Companion
According to novelist Andrew Holleran, AIDS has been "a cram course in death" for the gay community. Just what that means in the lives of a small circle of friends in New York City is spelled out in this engrossing drama written by Craig Lucas and set in 1981-1989.

• Philadelphia
Jonathan Demme's pathbreaking film about AIDS puts a human face on one of its victims and indelibly carves into our consciousness the personal costs of this disease.

• Love! Valour! Compassion!
This is a funny and touching screen adaptation of Terrence McNally's 1994 Tony Award-winning play about a group of white upper-middle class men and the mix of humor and heartbreak that binds them together in the AIDS era.

• Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End
A moving and illuminating portrait of a gay writer and activist during the last two years of his life and his valiant fight against AIDS.