The World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention concluded in London with representatives from 140 national governments. The conference marked the first broad acknowledgement by national governments in an international setting that AIDS was a serious global health problem requiring coordinated action. The summit produced the London Declaration on AIDS Prevention, which called for a spirit of social tolerance and greater exchange of information on HIV/AIDS.
The idea for a World AIDS Day emerged from this meeting. The concept was developed by James Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers working with the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS. Dr Jonathan Mann, Director of the Global Programme on AIDS, approved the proposal and agreed that the first observance should be held on 1 December 1988. The date was chosen strategically to maximise media coverage in Western countries - sufficiently after the US elections but before the Christmas holiday period.
The London Declaration was subsequently endorsed by the Forty-first World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 1988, and further supported by a United Nations General Assembly resolution on 27 October 1988. The first World AIDS Day was observed on 1 December 1988 under the theme "Join the Worldwide Effort."
