英语课程计划-World AIDS Day（在线收听）

World AIDS Day is observed on December the 1st each year. It really is a day that should be very high profile in all countries around the world. Of course, it is to raise awareness of the horror of AIDS. On this day, we do our best to remember the millions of people who died and are dying because of AIDS. The first World AIDS Day was in 1998. Two officials from the Global Programme on AIDS met in August 1997 and proposed the idea at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. It is now run by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). In its first two years, the day focused on children and young people. Recent themes have included AIDS and poverty, and AIDS and the family.

AIDS means Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome. It starts when someone contracts HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). This is a virus that attacks and weakens the body’s immune systems. If the virus destroys enough of a person’s defences, AIDS sets in and then eventually death. The body becomes too weak to protect itself from any illness. HIV/AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it first broke out in the early 1980s. In many countries around the world, the disease is destroying families, communities and economies. The most common ways of getting AIDS are having sex without a condom and sharing infected syringes. The best way to prevent it is through continuing education.