World AIDS Day is marked annually on December 1. This day appeared on the calendar a little more than a quarter century ago — in 1988. Since then, many government, public and medical organizations around the world have been organizing educational, as well as diagnostic events to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic caused by the HIV infection.

The first cases of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome were reported in New York and California in 1983. Over the years, the virus quickly spread worldwide and grew into an endemic among the population of almost every country.

According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 35.7 million people aged 15-49 are infected with HIV, 26 million of whom are people who work. It should be noted that about half of HIV-infected people do not know about their HIV-positive status.

The events traditionally held on this day are accompanied by a symbol — a red ribbon in the form of an inverted Latin letter V, the idea of which belonged to the American artist Frank Moore. This symbol was first used in 1991. Currently, everyone who wears the red ribbon on December 1 expresses hope for the future without AIDS.

Translation by Veronika Vetukhova