World AIDS Day is held on December 1 each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.
Here are 10 facts about Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
1. World AIDS Day was celebrated for the first time in 1988
2. The international symbol of AIDS awareness, the red ribbon, was adopted in 1991
3. Globally, an estimated 36 million people live with the HIV syndrome
4. At least two million of them are children
5. The vast majority of people living with HIV are in low and middle income countries
6. 35 million people have died from HIV-related causes since it was discovered in 1983
7. The virus can survive in dried blood at room temperature for up to six days or for weeks if wet, such as in used syringes or needles
8. Nigeria has the second largest number of people living with HIV, after South Africa
9. Although there is no known cure for AIDS yet, there are medications that can help fight the effect and help people living with the virus live a normal life
10. Nevertheless, preventing infection remains the best way of combating HIV/AIDS
