Bloggers Unite For 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day
BlogCatalog
is partnering with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Office of HIV/AIDS Policy's AIDS.gov (AIDS.gov) and the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for "Bloggers Unite for World AIDS Day
2008" on Dec. 1. This event encourages bloggers from around the world
to dedicate their blog posts on December 1, 2008 (World AIDS Day) to
issues related to HIV/AIDS. The goal is to leverage the power of the
blogosphere to remind people that HIV/AIDS is still a critical issue in
the U.S. and around the world, and to promote HIV testing.
San Antonio, Texas (PRWEB) -- BlogCatalog.com, a fast growing social network for
bloggers, is partnering with the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Office of
HIV/AIDS Policy's AIDS.gov (AIDS.gov) for "Bloggers Unite for World
AIDS Day 2008" on Dec. 1.
The campaign asks bloggers from all over the world to post about HIV
and AIDS on Dec. 1. Bloggers Unite is led by more than 150,000
individually approved BlogCatalog bloggers.
"World AIDS day is well suited for bloggers who have their hearts in
the right place, because awareness is paramount," said Tony Berkman,
president of BlogCatalog, which began the BloggersUnite initiative to
launch social awareness campaigns last year. "Right now, it's estimated
that 250,000 people in the United States are HIV positive and are not
even aware of it."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
there are an estimated one million Americans living with HIV in the
United States and an estimated 33 million people living with HIV
worldwide. Berkman said he knew BloggersUnite had to become proactive
in World AIDS Day 2008 after learning that a significant percentage of
all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses are among people 13 to 24 years of age.
"I spend considerable time getting to know our members and I know that
many of them are in this high at-risk age group or have children who
are," said Berkman. "I'm hopeful that our member-driven social
awareness campaign that is conceived, promoted, and supported by tens
of thousands of bloggers will encourage non-members to help raise
awareness too. It's an issue that touches us all."
Berkman said even if only 10 percent of the Blog Catalog members
participate in Bloggers Unite for World AIDS Day, their posts will be
read by an estimated 4 million blog readers. If approximately half
participate, the campaign will reach 20 million, not counting
conversations that result on social networks like Facebook, MySpace,
and Twitter.
World AIDS Day is the day recognized by individuals and
organizations from around the world to bring attention to the global
AIDS epidemic. This year is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day and
will be supported by social media efforts being undertaken by AIDS.gov,
NIDA, and many other organizations.
"Our goal is to leverage the power of the blogosphere to remind people
that HIV/AIDS is still a critical issue in the U.S. and around the
world, and to promote HIV testing," said Miguel Gomez, director of
AIDS.gov.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a component of the
National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health
aspects of drug abuse and addiction.
AIDS.gov is an initiative of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. It provides information from
the federal government about HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, treatment,
research, and using new media in response to HIV/AIDS.
BloggersUnite is an initiative of BlogCatalog. Since last year,
BlogCatalog has evolved from a blog directory into member-driven online
community for bloggers. More than 150,000 approved bloggers interact on
BlogCatalog every day.
BloggersUnite: http://unite.blogcatalog.com
National Institute on Drug Abuse: http://nida.nih.gov
AIDS.gov: http://aids.gov
World AIDS Campaign: http://worldaidscampaign.org
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