Nations Mark World AIDS Day
Around the world, people marked World AIDS Day Sunday to raise awareness about transmission of the disease and to stamp out discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
At a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People, China launched a prevention and awareness campaign in a sign that it is stepping up its efforts in the fight against the disease.
In what was probably the highest AIDS-prevention event to date in China, more than 1,000 students gathered to learn more about how HIV is spread — and how to prevent it.
"Break the silence, stop AIDS," read a banner as hundreds of children joined an awareness march in the Indian capital New Delhi.
Breaking their silence is the best guarantee for India's billion strong population to combat the AIDS menace which analysts warn could explode in the next 20 years.
In a recent report to mark World AIDS Day, the United Nations estimated India, the world's second most populous nation, has at least four million HIV-positive or AIDS patients, making it second only to South Africa.
With infection rates in parts of India estimated between 10-20 percent, some studies estimate that by 2010 India will have the most HIV victims in the world — somewhere between 20 and 25 million.
In South Africa, the government is fighting an uphill battle to contain HIV/AIDS after being slow to react to the spread of the disease there.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela backed his country's cautious stance on AIDS-fighting drugs on Sunday, saying the government was right to be concerned about their safety.
Mandela, in a Sunday appearance in the city of Bloemfontein to mark World AIDS Day, said he agreed more studies of the drugs were needed because conditions in Africa were different from those in the developed world, where the drugs have proven beneficial.
"Many who suffer from HIV and AIDS are not killed by the virus, but by stigma," Mandela said.
The number of young people dying from HIV/AIDS in South Africa has reached overwhelming proportions. On the weekends most grave yards around the cities look like market scenes with more than ten burials taking place at the same time.
South Africa has close to five million people infected with the disease. State medical researchers estimate that up to seven million people will die of Aids-related cause by 2010.
Sparrow village offers a last refuge for patients living with HIV/Aids, which is now the leading killer in the country.
The village houses more than 85 people and is being rapidly expanded with dozens of new "dome homes" to cope with the tidal wave of the new cases.