Today, December 1, 2009 is World AIDS Day and with it comes a mixed message.  Progress is being made where progress was said to be impossible just a few short years ago, but again, it is not enough and it is coming too slow. 

More than 4 million people in “developing” countries are now receiving antiretrovirals up 36% from 2008.  This also marks a ten-fold increase over five years but it doesn’t even approximate the need or come close to G8’s 2005 promise of universal access.  For every two people on treatment there are five new infections. 

Now, here are a couple quick things you (maybe) can do:

(1) The Stephen Lewis Foundation (2) Email (3) Facebook and (4) Twitter.

(1)  Stephen Lewis has written a brief yet eloquant message for World AIDS Day noting at the end that if you donate your Aeroplan miles today to the SLF Aeroplan will match them.

(2)  Email: If you haven't already done so, it's the perfect occasion to let your MP know that you care about child and maternal health via email. 

(3)  Facebook: If you happen to be of the Facebook persuasion, you can add a red ribbon to your profile picture to show your solidarity with the 33.4 million people living with HIV and help raise awareness.  And of course, you can always become a fan of Make Poverty History.

(4)  Twitter: If Twitter is your thing, you can also add a red ribbon to your avatar.  And, again, of course you can also follow Make Poverty History on Twitter. 

In 2000 people were saying HIV/AIDS treatment was impossible in the "developing" world, that it was too expensive, it wouldn't work and that we should focus on prevention. 

And what happened? 

ARVs dropped to a fraction (roughly 1/100) of the price, there was the astounding realization that treatement contributes to prevention, and some 4 million people later, it's been realized that universal access is in fact an achievable goal. 

Maybe there's something to learn here.