On 1 December WHO joins partners and communities to commemorate World AIDS Day 2024. Under the theme “ Take the rights path: My health, my right! ”, WHO is calling on global leaders and citizens to champion the right to health by addressing the inequalities that hinder progress in ending AIDS. The first World AIDS Day was December 1, 1988. It was the first international acknowledgement of AIDS a day to raise awareness of prevention and treatment and to honor those lost to to what was then still a raging lethal public health crisis. I was the Director of Programs at the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) just finishing my first year in 1988. This year I enjoyed a wide ranging and deeply connected phone call with Eric, who was the first Executive Director of MAP. How we each cherish friendships that formed in those earlier days of AIDS and are still alive and vibrant today. I talked with another friend who has been living with AIDS since thos...