On Dec. 1, all around the globe, people will commemorate World AIDS Day for the 20th consecutive year, focusing on both the progress and the challenges faced in fighting the epidemic more than 20 years after it emerged.

This is the fourth year Chicago has had a collaborative citywide program to commemorate World AIDS Day and the first year multiple events are taking place throughout the city over the span of several days. The Chicagoland World AIDS Day Committee, made up of a collection of groups and individuals working in the struggle against HIV and AIDS, planned and coordinated the events.

“This year, instead of just having one day, we are actually having a week’s worth of events,” said Michael Hunter, public health administrator for the Chicago Public Health Department’s communication and policy unit for the STD/HIV/AIDS division.

Throughout the week of Dec. 1, the Test Out event will make free HIV testing and counseling services available to everyone through the Chicago Department of Public Health and its community partners, such as Howard Brown Health Services, the Center on Halsted and the Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN).

The testing will take place all over the city and will feature the OraSure and OraQuick tests, which use a toothbrush-like device that is inserted in the mouth instead of drawing blood, making testing a little more comfortable. The Oraquick also gives a rapid response, in about 20 minutes, which can lessen anxiety about waiting for the results, Hunter said. The city also hopes the testing events will help people become familiar with the testing options in their own communities.

The overarching goal of the Chicagoland World AIDS Day events is to end the epidemic by preventing new infections and promoting communication, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health’s webpage.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, there have been 35,735 reported cases of HIV and AIDS in Chicago, according to the Summer 2008 Chicago Department of Public Health, STD/HIV/AIDS Chicago Surveillance Report. Men who have sex with men continue to represent the largest percentage of AIDSdiagnoses, with 51.2 percent of all AIDS cases in 2006, but Chicago’s black community continues to be disproportionately affected by the disease. Blacks accounted for 59.9 percent of all AIDS diagnoses in 2006-three times more than whites, at 19.8 percent, or Hispanics at 17.4 percent.

“HIV and AIDS is not front-page news, but it is still something to be concerned about,” Hunter said.

Johnathon Briggs, communications director for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, a leading HIV and AIDS advocacy and fundraising group, said he hopes commemorating World AIDS Day this year will help remind people that the AIDS epidemic is not over in the United States.

“Just because there are life-saving medications that, on average, extend the lives of those with HIV by 13 years or so, does not mean there is any less urgency about ending the epidemic,” Briggs said.

Though much of the focus recently has been on the AIDS crisis in Africa, there is still a major HIV and AIDS crisis in the United States and especially among groups such as black, gay men, who have infection rates on par with those of Sub-Saharan Africa, Briggs said.

“While what is happening globally is important, people should also be reminded that they can take action in their own backyard here in Chicago,” he said.

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago will be holding their “signature” fundraising event, The World of Chocolate, on Dec. 3 at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Ave., from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The ticketed event, which usually draws between 1,500 and 1,600 people, will feature a buffet of chocolate-inspired creations from some of Chicago’s finest chocolate makers.

“It’s a way to raise awareness and also to do something festive for the holidays,” Briggs said.

Some in faith-based communities are getting involved, too.

Trinity United Church of Christ, 400 W. 95th St., held a special World AIDS Day program on Nov. 30. The South Side megachurch has been one of the leaders in the Christian community’s response to the HIV and AIDS crisis since 1993 when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright started the

HIV/AIDS Support Ministry program at the church.

Rodney Johnson, the chair of Trinity’s HIV/AIDS Support Ministry, said Wright saw a need in the community and within the church itself, as some of their own parishioners were living with the disease and he saw how they were being treated due to the stigma associated with it. Blacks are also hit hardest by the epidemic, and being a predominately black church, Johnson said it needed to be addressed.

“[With] us being a social justice church-it’s just one of the battles we have to fight,” Johnson said.

The HIV/AIDS Support Ministry provides various services to their community including prevention education, free HIV testing events and case management services for those who are infected. Trinity and its current pastor, Rev. Otis Moss III, have also been working with various churches to get more faith-based outreach on AIDS awareness and removing negative associations and stereotypes around the disease.

“We really have to be more God-like and loving people instead of being judgmental,” Johnson said.

For more information about free HIV testing in Chicago call 311.