PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “Remember and Commit” was the United States' theme of Friday’s World AIDS Day 2023, and Philadelphia’s health department has committed to sharing available HIV/AIDS resources and services to the public.
World AIDS Day is observed on Dec. 1 every year.
“This day allows us to pause to reflect, to honor those who we have lost but also keep the fight going for the future,” said Javontae Lee Wlliams, prevention program manager for the division of HIV health at Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health.
“In Philadelphia, raising awareness about the HIV epidemic and what’s being done to end it is continually important,” he said. “While people aren’t dying at the same rate as they once did in the ‘80s and ‘90s, we still have a long way to go.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1.2 million Americans live with HIV, with more than 35,000 new infections each year.
Philadelphia’s health department has a website, Philly Keep on Loving, with information and resources, including where to get tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases or how to get preventive medications like Prep, or PEP if you think you were exposed to HIV within 72 hours.
“We have medications that people who are living with HIV take to live long healthy lives. We also have medication to help prevent people from acquiring HIV in the first place. We have pills and we have injectable forms and we have new technologies that are coming,” said Williams, who stresses that in this day and age, no one has to die of AIDS-related complications.