25 years ago today, the Centers for Disease Control reported the first known
cases of HIV. A quarter century later in Africa
- the continent hit hardest by the HIV/AIDS epidemic – an estimated 3.2 million
people in the region became newly infected in 2005 while 2.4 million adults and
children lost their lives.
As scientists continue researching and making developments in the fight
against AIDS, there are things we can do NOW to prevent and treat the disease. The
first step is educating those who are most vulnerable. For those living with
AIDS, access to life saving medicines, like anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), is
vital. These drugs, which can be had for less than $1 a day, will improve the quality of life for those
infected with the virus and enable them to work and care for their families.
After 25 years, great strides have been made but there is
much more to be done. The U.S.
has helped save hundreds of thousands of lives around the world, and now more
than ever – as Congressional Appropriations committees meet and make important
decisions – we need to make sure we continue funding important efforts like the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the President’s Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). For a full review of the global AIDS epidemic, read
the most recent report from UNAIDS.
I am proud to be part of ONE, helping to advance the fight
against global AIDS and extreme poverty. The work we’re doing now is making a
difference; we are helping to make AIDS history. Just imagine what we can do in
the next 25 years…
Jun 4th, 2006 9:00 PM UTC
By Shannon
My name is Hana Boxberger and I am a supporter and volunteer for the ONE Campaign. I am 16 years old and a sophomore at Sehome High School in Bellingham, Washington. I first became involved in ONE in April, 2005, when I was 15 years old. My Mom and I used to drive around in our car listening and singing to U2 as loud as we could. The love and appreciation of their music and lyrics drove us to see them on tour in Seattle. I had heard a little about ONE prior to this, but it was not until the U2 concert and hearing Bono speak about ONE that I really understood what the Campaign was about and how serious the situation was in Africa.
After the U2 show, I started thinking and gained a new perspective. I realized how fortunate I am to have been born in a wealthy country. I could just as easily have been born to parents who lived in a poor village in Africa or any other developing country. Part of the lyrics of a song Bono wrote, “Crumbs from your Table,” really struck me. “Where you live should not decide, whether you live or whether you die.” It made such sense. We then saw U2 in Dublin, Ireland at the end of June. I became even more inspired. We were fortunate enough to participate in the Irish Rally to Make Poverty History on June 30, 2005 right before the G8 summit. I wish we would have known about the G8 summit prior to this, so we could have planned our trip around that as well. But the Make Poverty History rally was very exciting.
Since then, I have volunteered for ONE at the Zimbabwe Music Festival in Bellingham and for the Power of ONE conference in Seattle. We have seen U2 in Boston, Las Vegas and Portland. After the Las Vegas U2 show, I had the idea for bringing ONE to my school. I had always been talking to my friends about ONE and it dawned on me that it seemed very important that my generation be educated and made aware of these emergencies in Africa and of ONE. With ONE’s focus being to change policies regarding the world’s poorest people, it seems to me the best people to educate about this would be teenagers, since it will be the teenagers who one day soon will be voting, running for public office, making policy changes and basically running the country.
