The Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Health, Wellness and Disease Control (MDCH/DHWDC) is recognizing World AIDS Day through a series of events and observations. The theme for this year's World AIDS Day, which is officially acknowledged as Dec. 1, is Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise: Lead - Empower - Deliver.

As of Oct. 1, 2008, a total of 18,000 people were estimated to be living with HIV in Michigan, over half of whom have a diagnosis of AIDS. Further breakdown reveals that 59 percent of those infected are African-American, 35 percent are White, 4 percent are Hispanic, and 1 percent are other or of unknown race. Seventy-seven percent of those infected are males. In the Detroit metro area, 8,980 residents, or 65 percent of those infected, are living with HIV/AIDS. Adolescents and young adult diagnoses have increased for the third consecutive year, with two thirds of those being African American.

MDCH/DHWDC, in conjunction with the Detroit Department of Health & Wellness Promotion and the Wayne County Health Department, will recognize World AIDS Day on Monday, Dec. 1, at the Northwest Activity Center in Detroit. Activities planned include free and confidential HIV testing, STD and syphilis screenings. Diabetes and blood pressure screenings also will be available. Presentations by people living with HIV/AIDS will be featured. Also on Dec. 1, the Lansing Area AIDS Network (LAAN) will lead the community in an annual observance and feature an African HIV positive speaker discussing his work with the Nyaka AIDS Orphan School in Uganda at the Hannah Center in East Lansing. Details regarding these observances, and others taking place statewide, can be viewed by visiting http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/2006_WAD_Activities_179568_7.pdf.

MDCH/DHWDC continues to provide HIV prevention education and care services, as well as training, to support our state's HIV/AIDS service providers. For more information on HIV/AIDS and World AIDS Day, please go to www.mihivnews.com, or contact the MDCH Division of Health, Wellness and Disease Control at (517) 241-5900, LAAN at (517) 394-3719, or the Michigan AIDS Hotline at (800) 872-2427.