Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; FRIDAY December 2, 1988
The World Health Organization sponsored the event, aimed at encouraging people to talk about the virus that infects an estimated 5 million to 10 million people worldwide.
President Reagan, Pope John Paul II and United Nations Sec. Gen. Javier Perez de Cuellar sent messages to the opening ceremony at the agency's headquarters in Geneva, calling for stepped-up efforts against the disease.
"It is the responsibility of each individual to learn about HIV (the AIDS virus) and to treat those infected with HIV with respect and compassion. And it is the responsibility of infected individuals not to infect others," Reagan said in his message, which was read by singer Pearl Bailey.
The agency said 140 nations held special AIDS prevention activities Thursday.
In Zimbabwe's capital, more than 200 young men and women marched through the city center with placards saying, "We have the power to stop the spread of AIDS."
In Lusaka, the capital of neighboring Zambia, hundreds watched plays and films about the dangers of AIDS.
China held a nationally televised lecture on AIDS and a concert in Beijing to benefit an AIDS foundation and the Public Health Ministry.
Groups distributed free condoms at Gatwick Airport outside London. In Stockholm, 2,000 scientists called for an end to discrimination against AIDS victims. About 200 posters bearing witness to the suffering of AIDS victims and their loved ones were displayed on Paris' Esplanade of Human Rights at Trocadero.
In the United States, New York Mayor Edward Koch planted the first bulbs of a "Hope Garden" that supporters hope will grow a flower for each person with the disease.
A rally was staged in Albuquerque, N.M., a prayer breakfast was held in Atlanta, and part of a quilt with 8,288 panels-each stitched with the name of an AIDS victim-was displayed in Boston.
In the Geneva ceremony, another speaker called World AIDS Day "the opening paragraph in a new chapter of our worldwide effort to stop AIDS."
Richard Rector, 32, said he has had the disease for six years, during which he says he has traveled to three continents to teach people about AIDS.
"I have gladly had my world turned upside down, and made richer" through having the disease, he said.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is caused by a virus that damages the body's immune system, leaving victims susceptible to infections and cancer.
It is spread most often through sexual contact, needles or syringes shared by drug abusers, infected blood or blood products, and from pregnant women to their offspring. There is no known cure.
Officially, 142 countries have reported 129,385 cases of AIDS to the World Health Organization. As of Nov. 28, AIDS had been diagnosed in 79,389 Americans, of whom 44,590 had died since June, 1981, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
DESCRIPTORS: SEX; DISEASE; STATISTIC; FIRST
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