Helping educate the community: World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day provides the opportunity to thrust into the spotlight the AIDS epidemic, a disease that has shortened the lives of millions of people, most of whom live in poor countries like Kenya and India. But Kings County, whose population lives on incomes many times that of the Third World, isn't immune from the disease. Dozens of patients annually seek HIV and AIDS treatment from the Kings County Department of Public Health, where they receive state-of-the-art medications. But even the most impoverished HIV patients can get medications for free, according to Dr. Annie Wong, HIV specialist for the local health department.