Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - November 30, 1999
Patricia Reaney
The London project, which is twinned with the red lighting of South Africa's parliament in Cape Town, is one of dozens of events planned in the 190 countries that recognize World AIDS Day.
AIDS experts warned about the dangers of complacency and the increasing number of new infections.
The latest figures from UNAIDS, the U.N. agency charged with tackling the disease, showed 95 percent of HIV sufferers live in poor countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Infection rates are expected to climb higher because of poor health systems, poverty and limited resources.
In a surrealist image, the red dome of St. Paul's lit up the night, dominating the London skyline as a drum beat every six seconds -- to mark the time it takes for a new infection to occur somewhere in the world. Religious and community leaders called for compassion and strength for those living with the virus.
"HIV prevention is more important than ever before," said community leader Abdul Sardar, the deputy mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
AIDS activists, families, friends and passers-by observed a minute of silence to remember the 16 million victims of the epidemic and the 33 million living with the disease.
Hundred Spotlights
More than 100 spotlights using hundreds of thousands of watts of power will remain focused on the cathedral until early on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.
Experts say people in the developed world were now succumbing to compassion fatigue where AIDS was concerned.
"There is a fatigue that people have about the problems of developing countries which tend to make them switch off," said Derek Bodell, the director of the National AIDS Trust in London.
"The enormity of the epidemic in developing countries makes people see it as just part of the myriad of disasters they see on their television screens," he added.
The success of antiretroviral drugs that have prolonged the lives of HIV sufferers in richer nations has also led to a complacency about safe sex and a misconception that the virus is not as deadly as it once was. AIDS experts emphasize it is still a fatal disease.
"Another challenge to complacency is that the dramatic fall in AIDS deaths seen over the last three years is beginning to taper off in some countries, suggesting that there is a limit to the effectiveness of existing therapies," the report added.
World AIDS Day activities in many countries will also focus on teenagers who have never known a world without AIDS and the 11.2 million children orphaned by the disease.
A poll by MTV: Music Television, which is broadcasting special programs Wednesday, showed teenagers have a surprising lack of knowledge and concern about HIV/AIDS.
Twenty-seven percent of the 896 MTV viewers in 11 countries who participated in the survey knew nothing about the virus.
Thirteen percent thought HIV/AIDS could be transmitted through kissing and 10 percent said there was nothing to worry about because there is now a cure for AIDS.
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