It's almost World AIDS Day!

Here's are a few important events going on in Chicago to honor the occasion.

First, the basics: This Saturday is World AIDS Day, observed every year on December 1.

World AIDS Day is an opportunity to celebrate the gains made in ending the epidemic, embrace those living with HIV/AIDS and commemorate those who have died of AIDS throughout the years.

It’s also an occasion for HIV testing, advocacy, education and celebration.

(It's also a great time to support AFC's network of lifesaving HIV services, by donating today.)

If you’re in the Chicago area, consider attending these World AIDS Day events.

Dr. Kamiar Alaei, on left, and his brother, Dr. Arash Alaei, at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, November 2012.

By Sara Semelka

For more than a decade, Dr. Arash Alaei and his brother Dr. Kamiar Alaei made quiet but revolutionary changes in Iran’s healthcare system, focusing on harm reduction practices for people forced into the shadows of society, including LGBT Iranians, sex workers and injection drug users.

They garnered millions of dollars for their innovative HIV/AIDS treatment clinics and built coalitions among diverse groups, including deeply religious leadership.

It all came to a dramatic halt in 2008, when the brothers were arrested without charge and thrown into solitary confinement.

Dr. Lisa Henry-Reid poses with her family. From left to right, daughter Lorelle, son Taylor, Dr. Henry-Reid and her husband Samuel.

To many, the debate over comprehensive v. abstinence-only sex education is one of cultural values and political leanings.

But it’s much more for Dr. Lisa Henry-Reid. She has dedicated her professional life to adolescent medicine. She’s attended the funerals of patients who have died of AIDS. Every day, as a clinician, she sees living examples of why Illinois teens need more factual information to make healthier life decisions. She's also the mother of two teen children.

“Our society, our conservative society, feels very strongly about abstinence,” said Henry-Reid, chair of the Division of Adolescent Medicine and Young Adult Medicine. “Abstinence may be ideal, but it’s not the reality.”