Two decades after its initial discovery, AIDS still kills 8,000 people across the globe every day.

The disease infects 40 million people, and while education has helped stem its spread in the United States, it is rampant on the continent of Africa because of expensive drugs and complicated treatments.

On Monday, World AIDS Day, the World Health Organization announced a new plan to expand treatment of the disease. A campaign launched in Nairobi would provide 3 million HIV-infected people with the latest drugs available &045; and simpler treatments &045; by the end of 2005 in a $5.5 billion effort.

But AIDS in Africa is not just a problem for that continent. All nations around the world must join the fight against AIDS.

Poor nations in Africa cannot fight the disease on their own; the reallocation of resources to cope with the problem could collapse entire economies.

But fighting AIDS is not like fighting any other deadly disease &045; this one comes with a stigma that often prevents people from being tested or treated. Lack of education sometimes means prevention efforts are ignored.

And AIDS education, while widespread in the United States, must still be emphasized here as well.

Just last month in Adams County, a man was charged with murder for allegedly not telling a partner, who later died of the disease, that he was infected with AIDS.

That case will have great legal precedence, but perhaps it can also have social consequences by reminding people of the need to protect themselves.

We have to keep fighting this disease, but it will take all of us contributing medicines and money, education and prevention.