A red ribbon is put on the sleeves of a man by his friend to show support for people living with HIV.Reuters

World AIDS Day

Held on 1 December every year since 1988, World Aids Day sees people worldwide unite in the fight against HIV, support people living with the disease and commemorate those who have died.

United Nations data from 2013 shows 35 million people were living with HIV, 2.1 million people were newly infected with the virus and some 1.5 million people died of AIDS worldwide.

People from ‘Maiti Nepal’, a rehabilitation centre and orphanage for HIV-affected women and children, attend a prayer meeting on the eve of World Aids Day in Kathmandu, Nepal Photograph: Narendra Shrestha/EPA

A volunteer pins a red ribbon on the blouse of a sex worker, as her child looks on, in Kamathipura, Mumbai's red light district, December 1, 2014. Reuters / Monday, December 01, 2014

A terminally ill patient raises his arm in a hospice for those dying of AIDS at the Buddhist temple Wat Prabat Nampu in Lopburi province, north of Bangkok November 30, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

A patient rests in his bed in a hospice for those suffering from AIDS at the Buddhist temple Wat Prabat Nampu in Lopburi province, north of Bangkok November 30, 2014. From 1992, the temple has provided housing for HIV-positive patients and palliative care for those in the final stages of AIDS. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Terminally ill patients rest in their beds in a hospice for those dying of AIDS at the Buddhist temple Wat Prabat Nampu in Lopburi province, north of Bangkok November 30, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Arun Lunt, a practically blind AIDS patient, cools herself in front of a fan at the Buddhist temple Wat Prabat Nampu where she has been living for seven years in Lopburi province, north of Bangkok November 30, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Nine-year-old Tumelo holds his grandmother's hand after taking his medication at Nkosi's Haven, south of Johannesburg November 28, 2014. Nkosi's Haven provides residential care for destitute HIV-positive mothers and their children, whether HIV-positive or not. Nkosi's Haven is named after Nkosi Johnson, the young AIDS activist who passed away on International Children's Day on June 1, 2001. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Nine-year-old Tumelo shows off antiretroviral (ARV) pills before taking his medication at Nkosi's Haven, south of Johannesburg November 28, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

A girl covers herself while taking medication at Nkosi's Haven, south of Johannesburg November 28, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Girls perform a traditional dance in an alley during an HIV/AIDS awareness program in Kolkata November 30, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Children play before going to school at Nkosi's Haven, south of Johannesburg November 28, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Children watch a street performance to mark World AIDS Day in Kamathipura, Mumbai's red light district, December 1, 2014. Reuters / Monday, December 01, 2014

A preserved body of an AIDS victim is displayed in a museum at the Buddhist temple Wat Prabat Nampu in Lopburi province, north of Bangkok November 30, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Children display ribbon cut-outs tied to balloons during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to mark World AIDS Day in Kolkata, India. Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters

Children from the Zip Zap circus school perform a World Aids Day concert in Khayelitsha township, Cape Town Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPA

Red balloons are released to mark World AIDS Day at the Emilio Ribas Hospital in Sao Paulo December 1, 2014. Reuters / Monday, December 01, 2014

A World Aids Day rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh Photograph: Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/ZUMA Press/Corbis

A red ribbon is displayed at the entrance of the Vidhana Soudha, or Assembly Building in Bangalore, India Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP

student reacts during a blood donation at a girls college in Bangalore, India Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP

The Sydney hospital in Australia is decorated with a giant red ribbon Photograph: Richard Milnes/Demotix/Corbis

Dutch ‘Stop Aids Now!’ ambassador Angela Groothuizen releases balloons in Amsterdam Photograph: Koen Van Weel/EPA

A red Apple logo at the Apple store in Paris Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images

Students hold red ribbons during an event at Liaocheng University in China Photograph: Imaginechina/REX

Transexuals attend a World Aids Day rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh Photograph: Abir Abdullah/EPA

Candles are lit in Copenhagen, Denmark Photograph: Sofia Busk/AP

Australia was the first country to get the red Apple logos. Photo: Mashable

Indian sex workers participate in a march during a World AIDS Day function in the red light area in Mumbai, India, Monday, Dec. 1, 2014. World AIDS Day is marked on Dec. 1 every year to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A giant red ribbon is affixed on the front of the White House on World Aids Day, on December 1, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

An activist wears a red ribbon during a campaign in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Yasuyoshoi Chiba, AFP/Getty Images)

A red ribbon, the symbol of HIV/AIDS awareness, is put on a gate of the city council chamber during an NGO's campaign on the World AIDS Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 1, 2014. (Yasu Yoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)

A nurse (L) hands out a red ribbon to a woman, to mark World Aids Day, at the entrance of Emilio Ribas Hospital, in Sao Paulo December 1, 2014. The world has finally reached "the beginning of the end" of the AIDS pandemic that has infected and killed millions in the past 30 years, according to a leading campaign group fighting HIV. United Nations data show that in 2013, 35 million people were living with HIV, 2.1 million people were newly infected with the virus and some 1.5 million people died of AIDS. By far the greatest part of the HIV/AIDS burden is in sub-Saharan Africa. (Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Activists from a non-governmental organization (NGO) carry a giant red ribbon lit with oil lamps before releasing it in the waters of the river Ganges during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to mark World AIDS Day in Kolkata December 1, 2014. The world has finally reached "the beginning of the end" of the AIDS pandemic that has infected and killed millions in the past 30 years, according to a leading campaign group fighting HIV. United Nations data show that in 2013, 35 million people were living with HIV, 2.1 million people were newly infected with the virus and some 1.5 million people died of AIDS. By far the greatest part of the HIV/AIDS burden is in sub-Saharan Africa. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

People take part in a rally marking world AIDS day, on November 30, 2014 in Paris. (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)

Indian residents walk past a sand sculpture made by fine-art students from Allahabad University to highlight AIDS awareness on the eve of 'World AIDS Day' at Sangam in Allahabad on November 30, 2014. World AIDS Day is marked annually on December 1. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images)

Indian social activists light lamps around a sign during an event to mark World AIDS Day in Kolkata, Dec. 1, 2014.Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images

Costumed activists display their ribbons during a World AIDS Day campaign in Surabaya, Indonesia. (Photo: Fully Handoko, European Pressphoto Agency)

A pedestrian passes a World AIDS Day display during an awareness event in Athens. (Photo: Petros Giannakouris, AP)

A transsexual person attends a World AIDS Day rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Photo: Abir Abdullah, European Pressphoto Agency)

Volunteers of National Service Scheme (NSS) pose with HIV/AIDS awareness messages on their faces during a face painting competition ahead of the World AIDS Day in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh November 29, 2014. World AIDS Day is observed on December 1 every year. (Ajay Verma/Reuters)

A woman holds a red ribbon, the symbol of the fight against AIDS, during a demonstration on World AIDS Day, in Pamplona, Spain.(Photo: Alvaro Barrientos, AP)

World Aids Day 2014: Heartbreaking photos of patients at an HIV hospice in Myanmar

Myanmar has one of the highest rates of HIV/Aids in Asia. An estimated 240,000 people are infected with the virus, and about 20,000 die from the disease every year. The percentage of GDP that Myanmar's government spends on health care is the lowest in the world. Only about 3% of patients receive antiretroviral therapy.

Intravenous drug users and sex workers are most at risk of becoming infected in Myanmar. There are few needle exchange programmes, and addicts and prostitutes are dealt with severely by the regime, making them reluctant to seek treatment. An anecdotal study found that nearly half of sex workers in Yangon have HIV.

Unsafe medical practices such as the reuse of needles and insufficient blood screening are also a major source of infection.

To mark World Aids Day, photographers Soe Zeya Tun and Lauren DeCicca visited a private HIV hospice set up by Phyu Phyu Thin, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy party.

A severely ill HIV patient at a treatment centre in Yangon, Myanmar, waits to be taken to the hospital. The centre, which has been in operation since 2002, is owned and run by the opposition party, the National League for Democracy(Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

One-month-old twin girls lie in an HIV clinic in Yangon. As the girls' parents are both HIV-positive, they are also probably infected, but have to wait until they are one-and-a-half years old to be tested(Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

A patient rests inside a HIV/AIDS hospice in the suburbs of Yangon, November 30, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

Children play with Phyu Phyu Thin, founder of the hospice and a member of parliament for the National League for Democracy party(Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

An HIV-positive woman lies on the floor at the treatment centre in Yangon(Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Children who have the HIV virus lie in their shelter during a Buddhist meditation session at the clinic in Yangon(Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Patients chat as they rest inside a HIV/AIDS hospice in the suburbs of Yangon, November 30, 2014. Reuters / Sunday, November 30, 2014

A patient looks out from a window of a HIV/Aids hospice in the suburbs of Yangon(Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

An HIV-positive boy lies in the shelter at the clinic in Yangon(Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

A patient rests inside a shelter at the hospice in the suburbs of Yangon(Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Patients rest inside the hospice founded by National League for Democracy (NLD) party member Phyu Phyu Thin(Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

An HIV-positive woman cares for her children at the clinic in Yangon(Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

A woman adjusts a red ribbon, symbol of the fight against AIDS during a demonstration on World Aids Day, in Pamplona northern Spain on Dec. 1. Alvaro Barrientos / AP

end

cast World AIDS Day

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