World Aids Month on December, 2024: should we make it world AIDS month instead of day?

December, 2024 is World Aids Month 2024. UMB World AIDS Day Month World AIDS Month

Hi !

I think if we, as a society, had a world AIDS month, it would greatly help reduce, or eliminate, the stigma around HIV/AIDS.

Breast cancer awareness month???

Different governments and organisations have declared different months as AIDS Awareness Month. The most frequent choice is December, as World AIDS Day is on December 1st each year.

Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month are both November. Yes, they share a month - but there are only 12 months in any given year. Take a look at this Cancer Awareness Month calender :

You'll see that, for example, breast cancer shares its awareness month with liver cancer.

But there's a reason that breast cancer has a higher profile than other cancers, and Tarkarri has explained it - sheer hard work.

People have limited time for campaigns; those who campaign around illnesses are usually concerned with the illness that's affected them or their family. I know a couple who have a child with a very rare and life-threatening condition. Much of their time is now taken up with campaigning around this condition - fund raising, agitating for more funding for research, more education, more awareness etc.

They're doing what what the women who started the breast cancer awareness campaign did. Breast cancer awareness campaigns and Awareness Month started as a campaign by ordinary women, most of whom had breast cancer or had lost someone to it, to raise awareness so that people knew the symptoms, examined themselves regularly, attended their routine mammograms etc. It caught the public imagination and enthusiastic participation and hard work by women made it grow into something nationally, then internationally, recognised.

And it's as a result of the hard work by those women that breast cancer is no longer the automatic death sentence it once was (but don't lose sight of the fact that in the US an average of 112 women die from breast cancer every day; in the UK.that average is 33 a day - I don't have statistics for other countries).

There is nothing to stop anyone working as hard as they did to raise awareness and funds for other cancers or other conditions

World Aids Day?

It is obvoiusly not publicised enough, I didnt even know about it & was sad that when people selling ribbons approached me at school I didnt have any money on me to buy one! However, I agree that AIDS is a massive issue which I why I will make a donation if theyre on sale next week