(NEWARK, NJ, NOV. 29) -- Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, an international day of AIDS education, and the Rutgers-Newark community will mark the occasion with programs aimed at raising awareness of this disease, its prevention and its treatment. ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FREE OF CHARGE.

WHO/WHAT: The Student Health Advocates (SHA) will provide informational materials and exhibits, as well as sell AIDS buttons, ribbons and key chains to benefit The Academy Street Firehouse in Newark, which assists children who either have AIDS or who are impacted by AIDS. Blank quilt sections will be available for students who want to make panels for a campus AIDS quilt. The Haitian Association of Students at Rutgers(H.A.S.A.R.), assisted by SHA, will present an interactive presentation and discussion that shows the impact of AIDS from both a global perspective and a more personal local level.

WHERE/WHEN: Paul Robeson Campus Center, 350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark. The main floor (entrance from the Norman Samuels Plaza) will host the exhibits, quilt sections and fund-raising sales, 11 a.m. 3:50 p.m.; the interactive H.A.S.A.R program will take place on the second floor, in the Multipurpose Room, from 11:30 a.m. -12:50 p.m.

BACKGROUND: This is the fifth year that the Rutgers community in Newark is observing AIDS Day with awareness programs and fund-raisers. World AIDS Day was started in 1988 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic. In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million persons worldwide are living with HIV, with 2.1 million AIDS deaths, according to a report by WHO and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.