Countywide : Events to Begin for World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, and several Orange County organizations are holding events to mark the occasion.

The World Health Organization has promoted World AIDS Day as a way to spotlight the disease. More than 1,600 people in Orange County have been diagnosed with AIDS and another 10,000 to 12,000 people have been infected with the virus, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Recent studies show women and children are contracting the disease faster then homosexuals and IV drug users, which is why several Orange County service organizations are sponsoring “Women and AIDS,” a forum scheduled for today at UC Irvine, focusing on the special issues related to women and the disease.

Topics include women as care givers and teachers, and how AIDS has changed society. Catherine Reyes, coordinator of AIDS services for Orange County, will moderate the discussion.

Several noted specialists are slated to speak, including county epidemiologist Hildy Meyers. After the discussion, a “safe sex” seminar will be presented.

The forum will be held from 1:30 to 5 p.m. in Emerald Room A, Student Services Center at UC Irvine. The forum is free, but parking costs $2. For information, call (714) 534-0961.

To raise funds for AIDS research and increase public awareness of the disease, Cablevision of Orange will join the Bravo cable network this weekend in a two-day telethon.

The 26-hour broadcast includes profiles, dramatic works and documentaries. The program will run continuously today from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m. with a repeat broadcast Sunday at the same time.

As part of the program, “A Moment Without Television,” a 60-second public service announcement dramatizing the international impact of AIDS, will be simulcast at 8 tonight on cable and broadcast networks worldwide.

Half the donations from Cablevision of Orange subscribers will go to the AIDS Service Foundation of Costa Mesa, a nonprofit organization that serves AIDS patients in Orange County, said Jon Borgeson, Cablevision programming manager.

In Newport Beach, the Newport Harbor Art Museum will present “A Day Without Art,” a national memorial for artists who suffer from AIDS. The two theater programs offered are meant to educate the public about the effect of AIDS on the nation’s artistic community.

Today, at 11 a.m., the theater troupe Artists Confronting AIDS will perform “Forget Me Not,” a play based on the letters of people overcome by the disease. And at 1 p.m., the museum will play AIDS/US II, an audio presentation about the ways the disease affects people and their families.