Vince Crisostomo is a survivor. Diagnosed as HIV positive in 1989, he — along with so many others in the 1980s, when the first HIV cases were discovered — confronted the grim prediction of a shortened lifespan because of the virus. Says Crisostomo, “For myself, when I found out, I was 28, and I was told I would not live to see 30. This year, I turned 60. So for me, it was quite a milestone.” World AIDS Day, held each year on Dec. 1, is a means to promote the visibility of HIV survivors like Crisostomo and to remember loved ones who have died as a result of HIV/AIDS.