International (MNN) ― Every year on December 1, World AIDS Day, talk turns to the global pandemic that's claimed 25 million lives since 1981.
Along with raising awareness, World AIDS Day focuses on fighting prejudice and improving education. A key factor to stopping HIV/AIDS is prevention. E3 Partners created the "HIV/AIDS HopeCube" to teach people about the disease and treat victims.
E3's HopeCube speaks through the universal language of pictures and can be used globally for AIDS prevention education.
The HopeCube illustrates how to prevent contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS. It also demonstrates how to care for and love those who already have it. Half of the people infected with AIDS worldwide are women. E3 hopes to deliver a message of hope through their cube that allows people to live a "long and productive life."
E3's strategy is to take 10,000 HopeCubes into 10 countries: Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Venezuela, Russia, India, Eduador, the U.S. and China. To maximize the HopeCube's effectiveness, E3 created a community training manual. This manual maximizes the HopeCube's message, improves comprehension, and increases community interaction and participation.
At the end of 2007, countless thousands of children had died from the AIDS epidemic. Africa has nearly 12 million AIDS orphans, and the disease threatens to wipe out over 50 percent of young people in nations where AIDS is prevalent. HopeCubes present the hope of eternal life to entire villages.
The 2009 theme for World AIDS Day is "Universal Access and Human Rights." International leaders have pledged to provide universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care. You can make a worldwide impact through prevention education. Click here to sponsor an E3 HIV/AIDS HopeCube .
