Today is World AIDS Day 2008

Today is World AIDS Day 2008. From the World AIDS Campaign’s website:

The 1st of December, World AIDS Day, is the day when individuals and organisations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic. 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Whilst we have come a long ways since 1988, there is still much more to be done.

For more information events commeorating the day, visit the World AIDS Campaign’s website (which is in need of an overhaul—the calendar of events is hard to navigate).

Kick me—or rather a friend of mine—to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS

I’m too delicate to be kicked, but please kick my friend Marie-Laure as she raises money to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. Thanks!

As her site says, “All it takes is just $10 to provide life-saving education, products, services and care to one youth for one year.”

New perspectives from China on HIV rheumatic manifestations—and a new perspective on health care for me

Most health care documents I edit are a few steps removed from the caregiver: usually they pertain to something like an analysis of midwives’ business practices or a review of pharmacists’ attitudes to new treatments for their clients.

In “New Perspectives from China on HIV Rheumatic Manifestations,” by Evelyn V. Hess and Alexander D. Brown, however, I got to edit a journal article written by two doctors. Their editorial was published in the August 2007 edition of The Journal of Rheumatology, a monthly peer-review.

Here’s an excerpt:

What are the take-to-the-clinic messages of this study and how should we integrate these intriguing findings for HIV patients with rheumatic manifestations in our clinics? Despite tremendous advances in treatment, HIV and its rheumatic manifestations remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Zhang and colleagues’ study provides further evidence of the remarkable shifts in the frequency and nature of HIV associated rheumatic complications. Thus, vigilance and careful attention by physicians to these emerging patterns of rheumatic disease in the HIV population are essential to provide the best possible diagnosis and treatment for this population.

Today is World AIDS Day

If you’ve already registered and are participating, keep going and help spread the word!

1. Join Ludacris and Emmy Rossum for the YouthAIDS Kick Me campaign.

• Visit www.youthaids.org and register today.
• Download your Kick Me kit, grab your sponsor form and hit the road. For every hour you wear or post the sign, ask friends and family to sponsor you or simply ask for a flat donation.
• Wear the sign on World AIDS Day, December 1. Talk about HIV. Collect your pledges. Send in funds raised to YouthAIDS by December 15 to collect great rewards from ALDO, Kiehl’s, and others.

2. Stop into any ALDO store or visit www.youthaids-aldo.org and purchase an ALDO Fights AIDS tote bag or Empowerment Tag. 100 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the bags and tags support YouthAIDS.

3. Shop at Kiehl’s. Kiehl’s will donate 100 percent of proceeds from all sales in free-standing stores between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. on World AIDS Day. To find a store near you, visit www.kiehls.com.

4. Buy a pair of Levi’s jeans at www.levisstore.com and the Levi brand will donate $5.01 to YouthAIDS. In support of World AIDS Day, the Levi brand is partnering with YouthAIDS to donate up to $30,000 by allocating $5.01 for each transaction on www.levisstore.com that includes a purchase of at least one pair of Levi’s jeans.

5. Tune in to TLC at 8/7c to watch Ashley Judd and YouthAIDS: Confronting the Pandemic. One of Hollywood’s most celebrated actresses, Ashley Judd, is teaming up with her friend Salma Hayek for a one-hour documentary. On this trip through Central America, Judd takes Hayek on an unforgettable journey. From the brothels of Guatemala City to the coast of Honduras, these women are on a mission to get the message out.

On their travels, Judd, Hayek and Latin rock star Juanes (also featured in this documentary) meet with the leaders who can affect change in their countries, as well as with the women and children who are directly impacted by the ravaging disease. TLC follows along as they document the personal stories of a disease that still carries great shame and stigma in Central America. For more information, visit tlc.discovery.com/fansites/youthaids/youthaids.html.

To learn more about YouthAIDS or donate today click here.

Freelancing, Word styles, Bill Clinton, and Russia: Articles worth reading

Here are some good reads on an assortment of topics:

• Freelancing tips from an illustrator. It’s obvious that Megan Jeffrey has 17 years of experience freelancing; there’s not a single suggestion with which I’d disagree (link via Lifehacker).
• Macworld: Save time with Word’s styles. One of the biggest ways to make publishing a document more efficient is to get everyone in an organization using Word’s styles. It makes an editor’s job easier, as he or she won’t have to waste time reformatting a document and instead can focus on improving the text.
• The New Yorker: “The Wanderer”—The ex-presidency of Bill Clinton. This article in the September 18, 2006 issue isn’t available online, but it’s worth picking up at the newsstand. David Remnick’s profile of President Clinton is fascinating and examines his work fighting HIV/AIDS.
• The Economist: Russian health and demography—A sickness of the soul. It’s hard to think of a country that put the first man in space as having problems usually reserved for developing nations in Africa and Asia, but that’s what former superpower Russia is facing.