Ricky Martin headlines AIDS Healthcare Foundation's World AIDS Day concert in Florida on Monday.
The Puerto Rican superstar singer will lead the sold-out annual World AIDS Day concert, presented by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the world's largest nonprofit HIV/AIDS service provider.
The concert will be held at the Watsco Center at the University of Miami in Coral Gables. World AIDS Day is Sunday, December 1.
The concert will feature a performance by renowned DJ and rapper DJ Spinderella, and the AHF, according to organizers. A “Lifetime Achievement” award will be presented to Dr. Julio Frenk, UM's outgoing president and chancellor-designate for UCLA.
Nearly 40 million people last year were living with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, more than 9 million weren’t getting any treatment, and the result was that every minute someone died of AIDS-related causes, the U.N. said in a report released this past summer.
While advances are being made to end the global AIDS pandemic, the report said progress has slowed, funding is shrinking, and new infections are rising in three regions: the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America.
In 2023, around 630,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses, a significant decline from the 2.1 million deaths in 2004. But the latest figure is more than double the target for 2025 of fewer than 250,000 deaths, according to the report by UNAIDS, the U.N. agency leading the global effort to end the pandemic.
“The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day, ‘Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress,’ reminds us that we must remain steadfast in our commitment to prevent new HIV infections and provide essential services to all people with HIV,” said Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, MD, in a statement on Friday.
“Today, we pause to remember the estimated 39 million individuals around the globe with HIV, including approximately 1.2 million people here in the United States. We also remember the 42 million individuals worldwide who have died from HIV/AIDS. Their stories and their lives will continue to motivate and inform our work to end the HIV epidemic.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
