For nearly two decades, Dec. 1 has been a day reserved for HIV and AIDS, as people around the world mark World AIDS Day with events to generate funding for and awareness of the disease. Today will be no different.

Ventura County's observance of World AIDS Day will begin tonight with the first-ever appearance here by the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. The event is a benefit for the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance and AIDS Project Ventura County.

Monday and Tuesday, California Lutheran University will host several community events on campus in observance of World AIDS Day. A professor at the university, sociologist Adina Nack, is credited for bringing World AIDS Day back to Ventura County.

Just a few years ago, local commemorations of World AIDS Day had diminished to nothing, as funding for such community events disappeared and activists focused on the day-to-day fight. Then Nack arrived in Ventura County, joined the Ventura County HIV/AIDS Coalition, and got to work.

"The public interest and enthusiasm and support had really petered out," said Nack, whose academic research on sexuality and sexual health issues spurred her involvement in HIV/AIDS issues more than a decade ago. "That's when I got inspired."

This year marks the fourth year CLU has served as host of World AIDS Day events. The school's events have been scheduled near, but not on, World AIDS Day because local residents had become accustomed to traveling to observances in Los Angeles or Santa Barbara on Dec. 1, Nack said.

HIV/AIDS still deserves a day of its own to spread awareness and education because, despite the medical advances that are helping people live longer with the disease, "there are still thousands of people infected in the U.S. every year," Nack said.

"We have an illusion that we have the epidemic under control in the U.S.," Nack said, "but that's just what it is, an illusion."

Education and awareness are critical, Nack said, because HIV is preventable through education on safe health practices, not just regarding sex, but also needle-sharing or even tattooing.

Worldwide, about 33.2 million people, including 2.5 million children, are now living with HIV. In Ventura County, an estimated 1,100 people "that we know of" live with HIV or AIDS, said Lynn Bartosh of the Ventura County Public Health Department's HIV/AIDS Center. The number of those living with HIV/AIDS in the county could range from 1,500 to 3,000, because not all are diagnosed, Bartosh said.

CLU's events focus on education, prevention and information.

A campus component, targeted at students, includes such events as a screening of the film "Girl, Positive" and a question-and-answer session with sexual health educators afterward.

The community component of the events includes a candlelight vigil and keynote speakers who will address local and worldwide HIV/AIDS issues.

"It's the best that Ventura County has to offer," Jay Smith, executive director of the Rainbow Alliance, said of the CLU events.

"We're ecstatic that an outside provider is willing to do something so elaborate."

The alliance put together the chorus event separately this year as a way to recognize and raise funds for AIDS Project Ventura County. The project, a program of the Rainbow Alliance, provides case management support for people living with HIV and AIDS in Ventura County.

With an eye toward the success of CLU's events, local HIV/AIDS activists are now looking at expanding the commemoration next year, possibly by adding another university or other location in west Ventura County, said Craig Webb, co-chairman of the Ventura County HIV/AIDS Task Force and interim program administrator for the Public Health Department's AIDS Center.

"We are very, very grateful" for the Cal Lutheran events, Webb said. "We're hoping we can do more in the future."