Cal marks AIDS Day on campus

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Nov 29, 2007

OAKLAND -- There will be several events on the University of California, Berkeley, campus today and Friday to mark World AIDS Day on Saturday.

Organized by Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, Cal Undergraduate Public Health Coalition and FaceAIDS, there will be a "Perspectives on AIDS" panel discussion from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today in Barrows Hall 110. Food and drinks will be served.

The session, which will include several speakers, also will include information from the California Microbicides Initiative, a statewide collaborative aimed to facilitate the development of safe, effective and accessible microbicides.

Microbicides are a female prevention method currently in clinical trial to help stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

On Friday there will be an "Art and AIDS" event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Sproul Plaza.

An estimated 31 million to 36 million people are living with HIV/ AIDS worldwide, according to statistics from the World Health Organization, with as many as 4.1 million people newly infected this year alone.

All the UC Berkeley events are sponsored by the Association of Students of the University of California.