Today is World AIDS Day.

Did you know? Since the life-altering arrival of HIV/AIDS 30 years ago, 60 million people have been infected, 25 million have died and 14 million children from sub-Saharan Africa alone have been orphaned. This year approximately 2 million people will die and 2.7 million will contract HIV/AIDS.


30 years ago, Australia saw another life-altering arrival  ̶  the mobile phone.

Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria,
and other diseases is part of the
Millennium Development Goals.

 

Mobiles have changed the way we communicate, work and live. Ironically, they also play a crucial role in the management of HIV/AIDS in the world’s most affected countries and continents.

In many developing countries, Caritas Australia uses mobile phones to help manage HIV/AIDS by sending messages about behaviour, reminders to take medication, get a check up, seek advice and counselling, and even for HIV workers to submit their reports.

Caritas Australia is working to medicate, educate, support and use mobile phones to change the state of HIV/AIDS, wherever we can in the world.

On World AIDS Day, Caritas Australia is calling on you to not just reflect on the damage HIV/AIDS has done but, most importantly, to put this disease back on the public agenda.

What will we have done to end HIV/AIDS over the next 30 years?

For more about HIV/AIDS and how Caritas Australia is helping, click here.

Would you like to help children living with HIV/AIDS? Read about our Have a HAART Campaign for children.