World AIDS Day 2011 in Photos

At a celebrity-studded World AIDS Day event in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, President Barack Obama vowed to boost U.S. efforts to fight AIDS with a new target of providing treatment to 6 million people worldwide by 2013, up from an earlier goal of 4 million.

World AIDS Day was created in 1988 at the World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes in London, England, which brought together health ministers and delegates from 148 different countries.

A mural in the shape of a tree is seen with the names of people who have died at the Hillcrest Aids Center Trust care center, situated at Hillcrest, on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa. (Schalk van Zuydam/Associated Press)

Pov Sophary, 28, an HIV positive patient, rests at the Khmer-Soviet Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Samrang Pring/Reuters)

This frame grab image supplied by Discovery Global Education Partnership shows a scene from the film “Inside Story: The Science of HIV/AIDS;” it illustrates how one couple can cross infect more people as the HIV virus gets transmitted through unprotected sex. The film, premiering on World AIDS Day, mixes action and animation and takes viewers inside a soccer players body, showing how he becomes infected with HIV and spreads the virus. (Discovery Global Education Partnership)

Fireworks burst behind the Sydney Opera House that is bathed in red light with a figure of two hands in Sydney, Australia, as part of a global campaign to create an AIDS-free generation by 2015. Over 50 landmarks and iconic monuments around the world were turned red on Thursday in support of the campaign. (Rick Rycroft/Associated Press)

A woman attaches a condom to a bilboard during an AIDS awareness campaign in Seoul, South Korea. (Lee Jin-man/Associated Press)

Nurses form a red ribbon while holding a banner to mark World AIDS Day at a medical school in Yangzhou, China. (China Daily/Reuters)

Nurses throw rose petals and red ribbons to mark World AIDS Day in Yangzhou, China. (China Daily/Reuters)

People hold their umbrellas aloft as part of a World AIDS Day event on Brown’s Island in Richmond, Virginia. A sea of red umbrellas, in the form of a giant red ribbon, were displayed for 9.5 minutes. (Richmond Times-Dispatch/Dean Hoffmeyer)

Herminia Mercedes, an outreach worker with Comprehensive Aids Programs of Palm Beach County, demonstrates a true or false game used to teach about AIDS in Lake Worth. (Bill Ingram/The Palm Beach Post)

Medical students dance during a flash mob event to raise awareness at the main railway station in Bucharest, Romania. According to non-governmental organizations supporting those infected with HIV or AIDS, more than 10,000 people live with AIDS in Romania but the actual number could be much higher, as testing for the infection is not popular among Romanians. (Vadim Ghirda/Associated Press)

Activists perform on Buenos Aires’ Obelisk during an HIV/AIDS awareness rally. The banner on the Obelisk reads, “No more kids with HIV.” (Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancers Antonio Douthit and Alicia Graf Mack perform during a dress rehearsal of “Home” by hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris at City Center theater in New York. Inspired by the stories of people living with or affected by HIV and AIDS, “Home” is making it’s world premiere on World AIDS Day, which is also the 22nd anniversary of the death of Alvin Ailey. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

An activist from a non-governmental organization lights candles during an AIDS awareness campaign in Agartala, India. (Jayanta Dey/Reuters)

Candles are lit for Danish victims of HIV/AIDS to mark World AIDS day in Nytorv, Copenhagen. (Martin Bubandt/Polfoto)

A huge red ribbon hangs on the North Portico of the White House. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)

Sex workers Pari, 25, and Reshma,18, prepare to participate in a performance in Mumbai’s Kamathipura red light district. Social Activities Integration, a non-profit organization which provides free condoms and medical care to people living with HIV and AIDS, held a commemoration for sex workers who died from AIDS. (Vivek Prakash/Reuters)

Wind blows through participants’ red ponchos as they walk onto a field before attempting to assemble the world’s largest human AIDS ribbon on World AIDS Day in Baltimore. Organizers estimated that 1,000 people participated in the event, short of their goal of 4,000. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press)

Balloons with red ribbons on them float in the sky after being released to commemorate World AIDS Day at the Condesa Clinic in Mexico City. The clinic specializes in the care of of patients with HIV/AIDS. (Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

The Christ the Redeemer statue is lit up in red atop Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro. (Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

Women form a red ribbon with candles, and school children form a red ribbon with their bodies as they mark World AIDS Day in Ahmadabad, India. (Ajit Solanki/Associated Press)

Volunteers form a red ribbon during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in front of the Taj Mahal in the northern Indian city of Agra. (Brijesh Singh/Reuters)

A college student is dressed up in costume during an event on the eve of World AIDS Day in Jammu, India. More than 2 million people in India suffer from HIV/AIDS. (Channi Anand/Associayted Press)

People gather to light oil lamps and candles to mark World AIDS Day in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Members of a chorus walk to the stage of an AIDS awareness event in Shanghai, China. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press)

People form the word “AIDS” with condoms, left, during a campaign promoting AIDS prevention in Seoul, South Korea. A child blocks the wind, right, to prevent a candle’s flame from blowing out after lighting it to mark World Aids Day in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Reuters)