The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is “Communities make the difference”.

WORLD AIDS DAY is a memorable day to ponder on those we’ve lost to HIV/AIDS and on the national progress being made as response to the menace. The commemoration of World AIDS Day, which will take place today 1 December 2019, serves as a significant opportunity to acknowledge the crucial roles that communities have played and continue to play in the AIDS response at the local, national, and international levels. 

Communities include peer educators, webs of people living with or affected by HIV, counsellors, health workers, service providers, civil society organizations, grass-roots activists and non-governmental agencies.

World AIDS Day seeks to highlight the roles communities play at such a time as this where funding is reduced and there is a shrinked space for civil society and sustainable services and advocacy.

Strong advocacy on the part of communities is needed to ensure that human rights are protected and respected, that decision-makers become more accountable, and AIDS remains a political agenda .

It’s World AIDS Day, it is pertinent that we sustain the forward momentum of responses to HIV in our society by:
Getting tested and getting into care– Know your status and take charge of your health
Talking about HIV with those in your circle of influence. Spread the word, fight the stigma, save the lives of those you care about
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Educate, Empower, End the stigma