What's Up

   The ninth annual observance of World AIDS Day will be
commemorated on December 1, 1996. Locally, the Akron-Area
Ryan White Consortium is helping to coordinate programs in
local houses of worship, schools and universities, social service
agencies, and gay businesses and organizations.

   The United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
designated the theme for World AIDS Day 1996 as
"One World. One Hope." This year's theme emphasizes the
reality that we are one world, and that HIV/AIDS knows no
boundaries. It also urges the world to focus on the hope of
individuals, families, communities, and governments in educating
one another, caring for those infected, developing a strong
support system, and ultimately finding the means to cure
HIV/AIDS. According to Peter Piot, executive director of
UNAIDS, "People around the world hope for a cure, for a
vaccine, for an end to discrimination against people living with
HIV/AIDS, and an end to denial. While we are still some way
from achieving these goals, there are grounds for optimism."

   One hundred ninety countries around the world, including the
United States, have designated this day to draw public attention
to the AIDS pandemic, which continues to spread in all corners of
the globe. UNAIDS estimates that, as of July 1996, 21.8 million
men, women, and children worldwide are currently living with
HIV/AIDS, with over five new infections occurring every minute.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reports that, as of July 1996, 513,486 people have been
diagnosed with AIDS in the United States, with over one million
additional people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Of the national AIDS cases, 315,928 people or 61.5% have already
died. Here in Summit, Portage, and Medina Counties, according to
the Ohio Department of Health, as of July 1996, 378 people have
been diagnosed with AIDS, 272 of whom have died.

   World AIDS Day will link communities throughout the United
States in a unified observance of dimming lights. In Washington
D.C., the White House will dim its lights from 7:45 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.
as a visual demonstration of the commitment to the fight against the
AIDS pandemic, in tribute to those living with HIV/AIDS, and in
memory of those who have died of AIDS. Here in Summit, Portage,
and Medina Counties, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, faith
groups, community agencies, schools, universities, gay businesses and
organizations are joining together in implementing their own World
AIDS Day observation initiatives. This community action is being
coordinated locally by the Akron-Area Ryan White Consortium, which
ensures the continuum of care linking ambulatory and community
based services, as well as advocacy for the rights and privileges of
HIV positive clients and their families.