On December 1, the World Health Organisation will join global partners to commemorate World AIDS Day under the theme “Know your status”. This will also be an occasion to celebrate the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day (WAD30) – a pioneering global health campaign first initiated by WHO in 1988. WHO advocacy and communication on this issue aims to urge people to know their HIV infection status through testing, and to access HIV prevention, treatment and care services. It also looks to urge policymakers to promote a “health for all” agenda for HIV and related health services, such as tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis and non-communicable diseases.

HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far. In 2017, 940 000 people died from HIV-related causes globally. There were approximately 36.9 million people living with HIV at the end of 2017 with 1.8 million people becoming newly infected in 2017 globally. And 59 per cent of adults and 52 per cent of children living with HIV were receiving life-long antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2017.

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