World AIDS Day was born in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Program on AIDS at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter took their idea directly to Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the Global Programme on AIDS (which is known now as UNAIDS).
Dr. Mann approved the concept and agreed with the recommendation that the first observance of World AIDS Day should be held on December 1st, 1988. Since 1988 was an election year in the United States it created many obstacles. James W. Bunn suggested that media outlets would be weary of their post election coverage and eager to find a fresh story to cover.
James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter decided that the 1st December was long enough after the election and a few weeks before the Christmas holidays. Here we have a list of World AIDS Day Themes from 1988 to present:
- 1988 Communication
- 1989 Youth
- 1990 Women and AIDS
- 1991 Sharing the Challenge
- 1992 Community Commitment
- 1993 Act
- 1994 AIDS and the Family
- 1995 Shared Rights, Shared Responsibilities
- 1996 One World. One Hope
- 1997 Children Living in a World with AIDS
- 1998 Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign With Young People
- 1999 Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children & Young People
- 2000 AIDS: Men Make a Difference
- 2001 I care. Do you?
- 2002 Stigma and Discrimination
- 2003 Stigma and Discrimination
- 2004 Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS
- 2005 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise
- 2006 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise – Accountability
- 2007 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise – Leadership
- 2008 Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise – Lead – Empower – Deliver
- 2009 Universal Access and Human Rights [18]
- 2010 Act Aware
Below is a list of different AIDS Awareness days through out the year for different genders, cultures and ethnic backgrounds:
- December 1st World AIDS Day
- February 7th National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
- March 10th National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
- March 20th National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
- May 18th HIV Vaccine Awareness Day
- May 19th National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness
- June 8th Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
- June 27th National HIV Testing Day
- September 18th National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day
- September 27th National Gay Men‘s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
- October 15th National Latino AIDS Awareness Day