“Getting to Zero” is the theme selected by the World AIDS Campaign (WAC) to commemorate this year’s World AIDS Day on 1st December. The new theme, that will be used until 2015, echoes the UNAIDS vision of achieving “Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.”
The decision to choose "Getting to Zero" as the theme came after extensive consultations among people living with HIV, health activists and civil society organizations.
"The potential for creative, connected and meaningful campaigning is really exciting,” said World AIDS Campaign Africa Director, Linda Mafu. "Our organization will focus on Zero AIDS Related Deaths, but the choice is there for others to pick a different zero or all three. It's time to use our imaginations and let everyone know that Getting to Zero is a must,” she added.
It's time to use our imaginations and let everyone know that Getting to Zero is a must
World AIDS Campaign Africa Director, Linda Mafu
Giving regions, countries and constituencies the latitude to focus on one or all of the Zeros that is most relevant to their context was central to the WAC’s decision, an approach fully supported by UNAIDS. “Getting to Zero is the overall agenda for responding to HIV in the next five years, but the priority may be zero discrimination in some parts of the world and zero AIDS related deaths in some other parts—it’s important to keep this connection with the local realities” said Djibril Diallo, Director of Global Outreach at UNAIDS.
This year’s World AIDS Day is anticipated to see renewed activism from the civil society as 1st December 2011 falls only 6 months before the International AIDS Conference taking place in Washington DC. This year also marks the 30th year since AIDS was first report. World AIDS Day will be a platform to pay tribute to early advocates of the response.
Observed worldwide on 1 December since 1998, World AIDS Day is the moment of the year where millions of people come together across the globe to commemorate people who lost their lives to HIV, applaud progress made in responding to the epidemic and recommit to ending the epidemic.
