Happy AIDS Day!!!

By Sam Bakken in News on Dec 1, 2004 9:10PM

How are you going to celebrate? Here at the red-ribbon-wrapped Chicagoist offices we're listening to the entire Queen catalogue, watching "Philadelphia" over and over again, chewing on flavored condoms and getting FUCKED-up on HIV medication cocktails.

Okay, okay, okay—relax. We know AIDS is serious shit. And World AIDS Day is "...an international day of action" and remembrance, not celebration. This year's theme is HIV/AIDS and Women/Girls.

According to UNAIDS (a United Nations organization committed to HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and treatment) and the World Health Organization, between 35.9 and 44.3 million people in the world live with HIV/AIDS and between 4.3 and 6.4 million new cases have been diagnosed so far in 2004. AIDS is an epidemic, so get informed and talk about it.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Illinois has the sixth-highest number of AIDS cases in the nation with 30,139 reported cases of AIDS between 1981 and 2003. For more statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health, go here.

Last week we told you about a chocolatey (we know it's a variant, but it looks so weird without the "e") AIDS awareness event for tomorrow, but you'll find a list of today's events here.