President Barack Obama commemorated World AIDS day Thursday by pledging $50 million toward treatment and medical facilities across the United States. He also pledged to help countries around the world, with the goal of giving treatment access to 6 million people by 2013. The conference was also attended via satellite by former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who emphasized the need to stem the spread of the virus.
According to a U.N. report, 22.9 million people are living with HIV in Sub-Sahara Africa. In the United States, that number is at 1.2 million. 50,000 people contract the virus each year. Since its discovery, over 600,000 Americans have died from HIV and AIDS.
