World AIDS Day is a day to reflect on the impact of the HIV epidemic and to take action to raise awareness in the community about issues related to HIV. Each year there are both local and global themes around which to organise events and actions.

Australia

The theme for the Australian World AIDS Day Campaign 2011 is: "HIV is still here". In the year to December 2010* there were 1,043 diagnoses of HIV infection in Australia.

• Up to 31 December 2010, the cumulative number of HIV infections in Australia was estimated at 30,486.
• An estimated 21,391 people were living with HIV/AIDS in Australia in 2010.

Source: Australian Annual Surveillance Report 2011 (PDF file, 4MB)

 * Data for the previous calendar year is released in September/October each year. No more recent data is available.

See also:

World AIDS Day in Australia (offical website)

The HIV Epidemic for further details about the Australian and regional epidemics.

AIDS Council websites for links to local events

Global

The theme for the UN World AIDS Day Campaign 2011 is:  "Getting to Zero", reflecting the UNAIDS Strategy goals for reducing transmission by 2015.

Globally, new HIV infections declined by 19%. HIV incidence has fallen by more than 25% in 33 countries since 2001. However, in seven countries, five of them in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, HIV incidence increased by more than 25%.
In the year to December 2009:

• 33.3 million people were estimated to be living with HIV
• 1.8 million people died of AIDS (lower than the 2.1 million in 2004).
• 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV

Source: UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic

See also:

The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Timeline of Key Milestones - Kaiser Family Foundation