COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- December 1 is World AIDS Day.
Locally, people marked the day with a remembrance at Pine Creek High School.
People said they are concerned AIDS is slipping from the public's minds, and they attribute that to medical advances that have allowed AIDS sufferers to live longer with the disease. However, they want to remind everyone the rate of infection here in Colorado is slowly creeping up.
The Southern Colorado AIDS Project estimates 10,000 Coloradans have HIV or AIDS, and since there is no vaccine and no cure for AIDS, they said the their best weapon is prevention.
But beyond all of that they said the day is to remember loved ones that have died at the hands of the disease.
"It gives us a chance to remember and reflect on friends and family that we lost to this epidemic and also to help promote continued awareness that the need is still there, that the infection rate in the U.S. is going up, that every year 56,000 Americans are infected with HIV, and we need more prevention," Colorado AIDS Project Executive Director Robert Blair said.
Also at the ceremony, there were panels of the AIDS quilt on display in memory of local AIDS victims.
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