Global events mark World AIDS Day

Joined by first lady Laura Bush on the North Lawn of the White House, President Bush observed World AIDS Day on Monday by reaffirming his commitment to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad.

A large red ribbon was hung from the North Portico of the White House, which the president said was "a symbol of our resolve to confront HIV/AIDS and to affirm the matchless value of every life."

The president said 33 million people around the world are living with HIV, including more than one million Americans. He cited his own Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, which he called "the largest international health initiative dedicated to a single disease."

"When we launched PEPFAR, our goal was to support treatment for two million people in five years," Bush said. "Today, I'm pleased to announce that we have exceeded that goal -- early." The president said the program is helping to provide "lifesaving treatment for more than two million people around the world."

The Black AIDS Institute took a different point of view. "In August, the CDC released a study confirming our worst fears: The American AIDS epidemic is least 40 percent worse than previously believed," the group said on its Web site. "This sad news serves only to dramatically underscore the point the Black AIDS Institute has been making for the last nine years. America has utterly failed to invest meaningfully in ending a domestic epidemic that is spiraling out of control."

Events were held across the globe to commemorate the day, and the Los Angeles-based Institute opened new offices in New York and was scheduled to hold its annual Heroes in the Struggle event at Frederick P. Rose Hall, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The event is an annual gala for a project called Heroes in the Struggle, a photographic tribute to African Americans who have made outstanding contributions in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

This year's Heroes include Sandra Evers-Manly (President of the Northrop Grumman Foundation), Dr. Marjorie Hill (GMHC), the Honorable Barbara Lee (U.S. Congress, D-CA), Sonia D. Lockett (VP of Public Affairs, BET Networks), Gloria Reuben (Actress, AIDS Activist), Bev Smith (The Bev Smith Show), Dr. Kimberly Smith, Cookie Johnson (Philanthropist) and Andrea Williams (AIDS Activist). This year's corporate hero is the MAC AIDS Fund.

Meanwhile, in the blogosphere, author Fred Smith recommended several novels that deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic at home. Among his recommendations, Smith suggested What Seems Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage, which "features a main character who discovers she is HIV-positive, and decides how she is going to live her life and future in victory and not defeat." He also recommended Lil Mama's Rules by Sheneska Jackson, a story in which a 30-year-old woman in L.A. with very stringent dating and relationship rules finally falls in love and "the results are life-threatening and eye-opening," he writes.

Smith's other recommendations include Just As I Am by E. Lynn Harris, which he said features a "very moving" HIV storyline as friends who recently graduated from college learn a member of their clique has become infected. And he suggested The Day Eazy-E Died by James Earl Hardy, which tells a story centered around the news of rapper Eazy-E's death due to HIV.

"The 1st of December, World AIDS Day, is the day when individuals and organisations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic," according to the World AIDS Campaign Web site. This year marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day.

As the organizers of the day have said, "Whilst we have come a long ways since 1988, there is still much more to be done."