Today is World AIDS Day. HIV/AIDS is a very real condition of our human population on Earth and thus an important part of our geographic education. Please take a couple minutes to educate yourself about the global impact of this devastating disease. The following are some basic facts from aids.gov that I encourage everyone to deeply consider on this day of observation.

• More than one million people are living with HIV in the U.S.
• One in five living with HIV is unaware of their infection.
• By race, African Americans face the most severe HIV burden.
• Every 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV.
• 33.4 million are currently living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.
• More than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide since the first cases were reported in 1981.

Growing up in an environment where HIV/AIDS is someone else’s problem, it can be easy to put it out of mind most days of the year. Please take this opportunity on World AIDS Day to help fight the virus by expanding your AIDS education. You can make a real difference by becoming informed and helping educate others. To learn about the history of HIV/AIDS, check out this useful AIDS timeline and other resources from aids.gov.

Also, this year The One Campaign is creating a digital quilt for people of the world to share their voice.  Add your piece to help The One Campaign achieve their goal of eradicating AIDS by the year 2015.
Photo Credit: Danielle Baron (Your Shot)
–Julia for My Wonderful World