Today is World AIDS Day. On this day, it is a good idea to re-educate ourselves about AIDS, learn more about the latest attempts to reduce its spread, and learn how we can help.

Every minute, five people die of AIDS. In Africa alone, there are millions of AIDS orphans. There is no cure for AIDS, a syndrome which causes its victims to die of unusual and horrible diseases that attack a battered immune system.

There are now medicines which can keep HIV-infected people alive, but the medicines cost money, and infected persons must take them on a strict schedule. There are many places in the world where the government and the culture are in such denial about AIDS that nothing is done to treat it. Some of these places are in the United States.

The Vatican has sabotaged treatment of AIDS in places like El Salvador by demanding that residents be told that condoms do not protect against AIDS. Condoms are, of course, the best protection (short of abstinence) againt the virus. As a result of the Vatican's campaign, thousands more have died.

Fortunately, the Bush administration's $15 billion AIDS plan was altered to drop the no-condoms-no-generic-drugs provision. The fact that they existed to begin with is frightening, however. With millions of people suffering long, agonizing death, the White House was worried about the absurd Christian Right's political power, and about the fate of pharmaceutical companies.

A place where AIDS treatment has been successful is Haiti, thanks to the work of Dr. Paul Farmer. The government of India has announced that it will provide free AIDS medication, and the World Health Organization plans to treat 3,000,000 by 2005.

40 million people are known to be infected with AIDS, and 22 million people have died of AIDS complications. AIDS is the most serious problem in the world, and today is the day to remember that.