December 1st is World AIDS Day

We know that the people and communities most affected by HIV/AIDS are those with limited access to fundamental social and economic rights. We also know that 95% of all AIDS cases occur in the world’s poorest countries where women have become the prime victims and an incredible number of children are being orphaned every day.

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are 38 million adults and 2.3 million children living with HIV, and in 2005 some 4.9 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people with HIV became infected before the age of 25 and died of AIDS before the age of 35.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is appalled at the fact that the richest nations, including our own, continue to abdicate their responsibility to help find a cure for AIDS, and today, on World AIDS Day, we must break the silence.

There are many ways in which you can support World AIDS Day. For example:

• Find out about the Canadian HIV/AIDS Labour Fund, launched by the Canadian Labour Congress [www.clc-ctc.ca]. It is working closely with unions that actively promote the rights of workers to fair treatment and provide workplace-based information on protection against the disease and on prevention of its spread.
• Raise awareness of HIV and AIDS in your region, local, and community.
• Organize a letter-writing campaign.
• Put up posters or hand out flyers - get people talking.
• Wear a red ribbon and ask others to do the same.
• Sell red ribbons.
• Protect yourself and your partners - this is the first and best way to stop the spread of HIV.
• If you are worried - get tested.

The PSAC encourages its members and their families to wear the red ribbon on December 1, to help end the silence and lift the veil of ignorance by reading, discussing and learning more about HIV/AIDS, and to take action by putting pressure on our government to do its part.