By Larry Tate and Liz Kresse
December 8, 2003

On December 1, mayors, organizations and people around the world marked the fifteenth World AIDS Day with vigils, concerts, educational seminars, parades and other events. Conference of Mayors President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner joined Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson in an 80-person delegation for a six-day, four-nation mission to observe the impact of HIV/AIDS upon sub'saharan Africa.

Garner, the only local elected official in the delegation, issued a statement saying, "As mayors, our message remains the same, whether in the U.S. or in Africa or anywhere in the world: We stand together with the same goal of exploring effective ways to help our citizens and bringing programs to our respective communities that will effectively educate, treat and reduce the devastation of this epidemic."

In late November the United Nations reported that the year 2003 set records for deaths (2.3 million) and new infections (3.2 million). Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the world is losing its war on AIDS. According to the U.N. agency UNAIDS, 40 million people may be infected with HIV around the world, 26.6 million of them in sub'saharan Africa. UNAIDS also notes that, with rampant drug use and unsafe sex, Asian countries are likely to be hit very hard in the near future. China alone could have 10 million infections by 2010.

Although AIDS deaths in the United States remain lower than they were before new therapies became available, as many as 950,000 people may be infected. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most comprehensive analysis of U.S. HIV cases to date shows that new HIV diagnoses rose by 5.1 per cent over the period from 1999 to 2002. Estimates put the annual number of new infections at 40,000. CDC Director Julie Gerberding says, "Fighting HIV in America is as urgent on World AIDS Day in 2003 as it was more than two decades ago when the epidemic began."

The official theme of this year's World AIDS Day events was "Live and Let Live," a campaign launched by UNAIDS. The goal of the program is to end discriminatory behavior and encourage governments to make laws to protect people living with HIV/AIDS. Stigma and mistreatment have discouraged people from getting tested and have driven people with HIV away from care and treatment services that are desperately needed.

Around the country, mayors and city officials chose World AIDS Day to announce important new programs and initiatives to prevent HIV/AIDS. New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled an exhibit at Gracie Mansion entitled "Faces of AIDS: Life at the Epicenter," which features several hundred HIV-positive city residents telling their stories of survival. He also announced the formation of a twenty-member Commission on AIDS of city officials, noted scientists and social'service providers to help shape AIDS policy. He further announced that New York City intends to offer the latest rapid HIV test to all New Yorkers by next year. The test, which produces results within an hour, is expected to increase the number of individuals who know their HIV status.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino chose World AIDS Day to publicize his support of state legislation to legalize the sale of hypodermic needles without a doctor's prescription. Legalization would make it much easier for addicts to use uncontaminated needles when injecting drugs, thereby reducing their chances of being infected with HIV or other blood-borne diseases. Menino has a long and solid record of supporting AIDS-prevention measures. As a city councilor in the early 1990s, he led efforts to establish the state's first needle-exchange program in Boston.

In Washington, (DC), health officials announced they will soon install plain white condom dispensers in select government offices and begin distributing the contraceptives for free. Announcing the measure on World AIDS Day, city officials said they know of no other city or state that has distributed prophylactics so broadly from within government buildings. In addition, in the next twelve months, the administration plans to pass out about 550,000 male condoms, 45,000 latex dental dams and about 30,000 female condoms in a variety of venues, including the public school system, which also gives out 50,000 condoms a year.

In Baltimore, city health officials observed World AIDS Day by promoting initiatives such as the launch of a campaign to encourage AIDS testing and a pledge to put a new van in city neighborhoods that will offer AIDS tests and counseling beginning early next year.