World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who've died of the disease. The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The HIV virus attacks the immune system of the patient and reduces its resistance to other diseases. Government and health officials, non-governmental organizations, and individuals around the world observe the day, often with education on AIDS prevention and control.
Zero Patience is a 1993 Canadian musical film written and directed by John Greyson. The film examines and refutes the urban legend of the alleged introduction of HIV to North America by a single individual, Gaëtan Dugas. Dugas, better known as Patient Zero, was the target of blame in the popular imagination in the 1980's in large measure because of Randy Shilts's American television film docudrama, And the Band Played On (1987), a history of the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Zero Patience tells its story against the backdrop of a romance between a time-displaced Sir Richard Francis Burton and the ghost of "Zero".
Festus Gontebanye Mogae is a Botswana politician and economist who served as the third President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He succeeded Quett Masire as President in 1998 and was re-elected in October 2004; after ten years in office. He stepped down in 2008 and was succeeded by Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
John Thomas Walker was Bishop of Washington from 1977 to 1989 in the Episcopal Church. From 1978 to 1989, he also served as Dean of Washington National Cathedral. Previously, he served as Bishop Coadjutor from 1976 to 1977 and Bishop Suffragan from 1971 to 1976. He was the first African-American Bishop of Washington.
Africare is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. which provides development aid for Africa. It was founded by Dr. Joseph Kennedy and C. Payne Lucas in 1970, former Peace Corps members who worked in eastern Niger. Africare is the largest and oldest African-American founded international NGO focused exclusively on the continent of Africa. Since 1970, Africare has been improving lives and building a better future by partnering with local communities, focusing on agriculture and food security, healthcare, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, access to potable water, and women's empowerment. In more than 40 years of building partnerships with local communities, NGOs, governments and the private sector, Africare has invested over $1 billion in more than 35 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Woodrow Wilson Awards are given out in multiple countries each year by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution to individuals in both the public sphere and business who have shown an outstanding commitment to President of the United States Woodrow Wilson's dream of integrating politics, scholarship, and policy for the common good. Created in 1999 as a local Award for leadership in Washington, DC, the Awards were expanded in 2001 to recognize great leaders and thinkers throughout the world. Funding from the Awards supports additional research, scholars, and programs in Washington and the home community of the recipients.
Leon Howard Sullivan was a Baptist minister, a civil rights leader and social activist focusing on the creation of job training opportunities for African Americans, a longtime General Motors Board Member, and an anti-Apartheid activist. Sullivan died of leukemia in a Scottsdale, Arizona hospital at the age of 78.
The Life Ball in Vienna is the biggest charity event in Europe supporting people with HIV or AIDS. The event is organized by the nonprofit organization AIDS LIFE, which was founded in 1992 by Gery Keszler and Torgom Petrosian.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) is a nonprofit organization, established by musician Sir Elton John in 1992 in the United States and 1993 in the United Kingdom to support innovative HIV prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with or at risk of HIV. It has raised over $565 million to support HIV-related programs across ninety countries.
Nicole Murray-Ramirez is an LGBT activist and frequent San Diego city committee appointee known as "Empress Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas" within the Imperial Court System of which she is the titular leader.
Whitman-Walker Health (WWH), formerly Whitman-Walker Clinic, is a non-profit community health center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with a special expertise in HIV/AIDS healthcare and LGBT healthcare. Chartered as an affirming health center for the gay and lesbian community in 1978, Whitman-Walker was one of the first responders to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in D.C. and became a leader in HIV/AIDS education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, Whitman-Walker has expanded its services to include primary healthcare services, a stronger focus on queer women's care and youth services.
Anne-christine d'Adesky is an American author, journalist and activist of French and Haitian descent living in New York. She has maintained a deep relationship with Haiti, reporting the 2010 earthquake from a feminist angle, especially noting the impact of the disaster on the lives of teenage girls. She has also contributed to humanitarian projects in East Africa, as well as conducting extensive research into HIV/AIDS and its treatment worldwide.
Pernessa C. Seele is an American immunologist and interfaith public health activist. Seele is the CEO and founder of Balm in Gilead, Inc., a religious-based organization that provides support to people with AIDS and their families, as well as working for prevention of HIV and AIDS. In 1989 she initiated the Harlem Week of Prayer, with 50 churches, synagogues and mosques participating. This became an annual event and organizing force for the religious community to respond to the AIDS crisis.
Mvumelwano Mvume Dandala is a former presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and a former head of the All Africa Conference of Churches. He was the presidential candidate of the COPE in the 2009 South African general elections.
The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award is an American literary prize awarded by the Tulsa Library Trust in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is awarded annually to an "internationally acclaimed" author who has "written a distinguished body of work and made a major contribution to the field of literature and letters".
YouthAIDS is an international nongovernmental, nonprofit education, funding, and health initiative of Population Services International (PSI) that provides humanitarian assistance and brings global awareness to the proliferation of HIV/AIDS. The organization is based in Washington, D.C., and reaches out to 600 million youth in over 60 countries through the delivery of information, products, and social services. Methods used to address issues include film, television, and radio; celebrity spokespersons; pop culture initiatives; theatrical productions; music; and sports. Actress and humanitarian Ashley Judd serves the organization as their Global Ambassador.
Alexander Benedict Cummings Jr. is a Liberian politician, businessman and philanthropist. He is the Standard Bearer of Liberia's Alternative National Congress.
The Phoenix Awards are conferred by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. This annual event recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to society while uplifting and empowering the global Black community. The Phoenix awards are the apex of the Annual Legislative Conference. It is also the primary fundraising event for the CBCF. They are streamed on BET and BET Her.
