Pedestrians walk past a giant red ribbon, symbolizing AIDS awareness, in the center of Athens during World AIDS Day on December 1, 2008. Governments across the globe pledged on December 1, 2008 to step up the fight against HIV, combatting the stigma associated with the disease and promising to bankroll treatment programs on World AIDS Day.
Relatives of HIV/AIDS victims surround a symbol made on the floor with candles on December 1, 2011 in Guatemala City to mark World AIDS Day.
An Indian activist from NGO's working in the HIV/AIDS sector lights candles forming the AIDS symbol during a candlelight vigil in New Delhi, 30 November 2006. This year's theme, 'accountability' is designed to inspire citizens across the globe to hold their political leaders accountable for the promises they have made on AIDS. The World observes 01 December, as World AIDS Day.
A soldier holds an AIDS poster during a rally held on World AIDS Day 01 December 2002 in Hanoi. Some 3,000 people, mainly students and soldiers, took part led by Vietnamese Vice-President Truong My Hoa. Vietnam has some 56.495 HIV infected persons of whom 4.649 were killed by AIDS.
Chinese students use handmade red ribbons to form 'AIDS' one day ahead of the the World AIDS Day, at a school in Hanshan, east China's Anhui province on November 30, 2009. China warned in a notice for World AIDS Day that homosexual transmission of the disease was gaining pace and called for health authorities nationwide to step up prevention work. China's health ministry estimates that at the end of 2009, 740,000 people were living with HIV in the country of 1.3 billion, and the latest data shows that 48,000 were infected this year, according to UNAIDS.
A man reads a newspaper in front of a poster to promote AIDS awareness on World AIDS Day in Beijing, 01 December 2004. Despite growing political will to combat the march of HIV/AIDS in China, efforts to stem the deadly scourge and improve care for sufferers are still insufficient, victims and officials fighting the epidemic say.
