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World AIDS Day 2008

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. As a company, iePlexus has always been committed to being a charitable organization. We think it’s important for companies like us to take the lead in talking about issues that affect all of us and doing something for those less fortunate. A little while ago, we highlighted poverty through Blog Action Day, and some months ago we participated in a charity golf event to benefit Habit for Humanity. Today, we’d like to highlight the important topic of AIDS.

World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1st, and was established in 1988 by the World Health Organization. World AIDS Day provides governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations, and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic.

In 2007, it was estimated that 33.2 million people worldwide were living with HIV, 2.5 million of those being children, according to UNAIDS.org. During 2007, some 2.7 million became newly 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% of the people living with AIDS/HIV live in developing nations, but it’s still a threat to men, women and children all over the world. World AIDS Day is here to remind us that HIV has not gone away, and there are many things that still need to be done.

What can we do?

Visit websites like UNAIDS.org or Avert.org and donate.

“Presidents and prime ministers, doctors and lawyers, scientists and schoolteachers, chief executives and trade union leaders, religious groups and communities, and – critically – people living with HIV, are coming together in a brilliant coalition that has proved that, with clear targets and strong commitment, we can move mountains.”

– UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot
2008 World AIDS Day message