BlogCatalog.com is sponsoring a bloggers unite day on Monday, urging bloggers to write about the AIDS issue.  I’m still thinking of what to write, but just to start here are a few facts about AIDS.

Did you know that…

in the United States:

• Nearly half of all AIDS cases in the U.S. involve people 13 to 24 years of age.
• More than 250,000 are estimated to be HIV positive and not know it.
• And more than 1 million are estimated to be living with AIDS.

around the world:

• There are an estimated 33 million people with AIDS worldwide.
• In 2007, HIV/AIDS killed 2.2 million people
• 8,000 people die every day in Africa from three preventable and treatable diseases- AIDS, malaria and TB.

there are reasons for hope:

• Antiretroviral medication to treat people living with HIV/AIDS costs as little as $140 per patient per year, down from nearly $10,000 a year less than 10 years ago.
• Organizations such as ONE and world aids campaign continue to keep this issue top of mind with the public and governments, in order to advance research, treatment and prevention.