The 2000 World AIDS Day theme, "AIDS: Men Make a Difference," kicks off a two year campaign designed to focus on the role of men in the AIDS pandemic. The new Campaign aims to involve men more fully in the effort against AIDS and to bring about a much needed focus on men in national response to the epidemic. Part of the effort to curb the AIDS epidemic must include challenging harmful concepts of masculinity and changing many commonly-held attitudes and behaviors, including the way men view risk and how boys are socialized to become men. In 2000, the Campaign has three broad goals:

to raise awareness of the relationship between men's behavior and HIV;

to encourage men and adolescent boys to make a strong commitment to preventing the spread of HIV and caring for those affected; and

to promote programs that respond to the need of both men and women. (Source: UN World AIDS Day Campaign.)