World AIDS Day 2025:
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organised the World AIDS Day 2025 observance under the theme “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response” and highlighted the national progress on AIDS control.
- In 1998, WHO marked the first World AIDS Day on 1st December to recognize the crucial role of civil society in driving a global response to HIV/AIDS.
- HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system, primarily damaging CD4 cells (white blood cells), weakening the body and making it vulnerable to infections and cancers.
- Occurs via direct contact with infected bodily fluids (blood, semen, breast milk, vaginal fluids) like unprotected sex, shared needles, or unsterilized tattooing. It is not spread through casual contact.
- Early signs include fever and rash. Later stages may involve swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, and diarrhea. Severe HIV can lead to opportunistic illnesses such as tuberculosis, meningitis, and cancers like lymphoma.
- There is no cure. However, lifelong daily Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) effectively controls the virus.
- UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.3 aims to end the HIV epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
