AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) recently launched the “Keep the Promise, Around the Globe in a Day” initiative – a series of events worldwide commemorating World AIDS Day and raising awareness about HIV and AIDS.

The initiative includes free concerts in the United States, Cambodia and Mexico City, as well as free awareness and testing events throughout the U.S., Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Asia.

The local “Keep the Promise Around the Globe in a Day” advocacy effort and will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Actress and choreographer Rosie Perez will lead a “Keep the Promise March” on Hollywood Boulevard, followed by a free concert at the Dolby Theater with performances by Patti LaBelle and Common, JoJo, Espinoza Paz, B-Flow and Latin singer and actor Jencarlos Canela. Entertainer Harry Belafonte will also receive AHF’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his philanthropy and advocacy.

Since its inception in 1987, AHF has provided HIV prevention services, testing and healthcare for patients with HIV. The mission of “Around the Globe in a Day, Keep the Promise” initiative is to further the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“Our hope is that our upcoming World AIDS Day ‘Keep the Promise’ concert and march serve as a potent reminder that the fight against HIV/AIDS is not yet won and that these events serve as a clarion call to action,” AHF president Michael Weinstein said. “The irony is that we are the victims of our own success. As the AIDS situation improves with better treatments and more people being able to access them, the urgency of winning the war against AIDS here in the U.S. and around the globe has diminished. As a result, HIV/AIDS is increasingly pitted against other important issues as far as funding as well as for the attention of policy makers. It is critical that we continue to speak out through events like ‘Keep The Promise’ in order to remind governments, public health officials and other stakeholders to keep the promise on AIDS and other key public health issues.”

“Keep the Promise” is free and open to the public. Marchers will gather at 5 p.m. on Schrader Boulevard south of Hollywood Boulevard. Participants who march will be given priority seating for the concert, which begins at 7 p.m. For information and registration, visit www.aidshealth.org.