If we really believe that "To be aware is more important than what you wear", then we need to constantly remind ourselves of some very compelling realities.

More than 25 million individuals have already died of AIDS, more then 39 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and some are predicting that this figure could reach 100 million by the end of the decade. Maybe the most chilling statistic of all is that 95% of people carrying HIV don't even know they are infected. They don't have symptoms and they have not been tested, so, unknowingly, they pass the virus on to spouses, partners, and lovers at the rate of 14,400 a day. And the pandemic spreads.

For 17 years, I have been a board member of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). I joined the Foundation because too many friends and colleagues were dying around me, and I needed to do something. I chose amfAR because I believed that a cure for AIDS could only be realised through research, and that is what they do. AmfAR's support of innovative research has stimulated many of the advances in treatment and prevention that are helping people with HIV/AIDS live longer, healthier lives.

Back in the mid-1980s, the face of AIDS was the face of a gay man, or perhaps a hemophiliac or a Haitian. Increasingly, the face of AIDS is also the face of a woman. In fact, in many parts of the world, women today are much more likely than men to become infected with HIV. We have learned since then, that HIV/AIDS infects and kills without regard to race, age, gender, or sexual orientation.

The greatest tragedy of all is the number of people who have been cured of AIDS: 00,000,000. It's the only AIDS statistic that has not grown exponentially over the last two decades.

We must all recognise our collective responsibility to combat this scourge and take whatever action we can. How can we put our heads on our pillows at night, knowing that we haven't done everything in our power to conquer what has become the most devastating disease in human history?

Kenneth Cole