Last week's events, marking the fight to end the disease that has killed 30 million people over 30 years, saw the Sydney Opera House lit up in red and the Centre Pompidou in Paris covered in blue, plastic condoms. Governments came out to renew their pledges, activists took to the streets, and generally everyone ended a rousing 24 hours feeling a bit better for themselves.

But with the news vans packed up and the newspaper headlines back to talk of debt crises and the Arab Spring, the only reminder of AIDS is the same complacency that helped enable its existence for 30 years and counting.

While December 1 is officially World AIDS Day, in reality, it is everyday. Did you know that 7,400 people continue to be infected with HIV daily? Did you know that women of reproductive age are now more likely to die of an AIDS-related illness than anything else? And, did you know that getting tested, knowing your status and accessing treatment can literally save your life?

For an AIDS activist, this year has been an especially steep learning curve. At the 2011 High-Level Meeting on AIDS in New York in June, politicians recalled how even 10 years ago, mentioning the word "AIDS" was difficult in "polite company."

Now, of course, not only is it a growing part of the core political dialogue, but heads of state and government from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to South African President Jacob Zuma have spoken out strongly for the rights of the 34 million people living with HIV today. But it has to continue and it has to accelerate.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said it best when he reminded the human family last week that we, as a world, stand at a critical crossroads. While science and leadership have helped drive down new infections by more than 20 percent since 1997, and the level of incidence has diminished in no less than 22 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is still here. Thousands of people are still being needlessly infected everyday. Unlike 30 years ago, we now know what HIV is, how we are infected and crucially how we can protect ourselves.

We need to renew our commitments, we need to be smarter with our approaches and, yes, even in this financial slowdown, we need to continue with funding, because investing in health is investing in lives. 

Get this right and we could be rewriting history forever. This particular piece of history began in June 1981 when the first known cases of HIV were identified in the United States. In those days it was labeled a "gay cancer" - a tragic phrasing of words that directly led to the misinformation and misunderstanding that made so many complacent.

But there is plenty of hope. Of all the high-risk groups, I think that the greatest chance lies with our youth. Because not only are young people standing on the front lines when it comes to new HIV infections, but they have fresh and innovative ideas that will help us build new thinking on how to transform approaches for a fourth decade of AIDS.

One such example is www.crowdoutaids.org, a revolutionary website that crowdsources a new strategy on HIV and youth.

But social media alone isn't going to save the world. What we need most is love.

Too often, we talk about HIV-positive people in terms of numbers and statistics and not enough with value as individuals, families and communities. And while the end can seem a long way off, we are so, so close to living in a world that in a few, short years could be free of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. 

Imagine that. 

The author is a CCTV-News television presenter and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador. james@james-chau.com