(CNN) -- Every year on World AIDS Day, old-timers like me are trotted out to say a few words to well-motivated audiences, while over the years, the over-riding themes become more empty and banal. The international theme for World AIDS Day from 2011 to 2015 is "Getting to zero," which UNAIDS defines as zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. This strikes me as frankly preposterous for the simple reason that such a goal remains so patently unachievable. Of course World AIDS Day provides a welcome opportunity for AIDS charities and others to discuss the latest statistics in public, but one cannot escape the feeling that it all amounts to little more than a convenient excuse for government departments to shrug off the whole issue. On December 2 the whole subject may be conveniently forgotten for another 12 months.
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World AIDS Day theme "getting to zero" is a goal that remains patently unachievable, Watney says
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The young are disproportionately affected "because they have no access to targeted HIV education"
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HIV may no longer be an automatic death sentence, "but it is still a life sentence," Watney says
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New alliances between different generations of gay men, and achievable local goals, are required
This is not a vague general question of "Getting to zero" as @placeholder so unhelpfully frames it, but by contrast of working towards specific achievable local goals.