Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Awareness Week, which began Friday, is titled “AIDS: Our Crisis,” this year in an attempt to make students recognize the extent to which the disease affects even those who do not have the sickness.

“[AIDS] is not just the problem of a specific continent, it’s not just the problem of a specific nation, it’s not just the problem of a specific age group. It’s a problem that also affects Harvard students,” AIDS Week Director Leslie A. Garbarino ’03 said.

The event, which will include panel discussions, plays, films and a “dance marathon,” is run by the Harvard AIDS coalition, with 28 other student groups co-sponsoring the week.

Last night, the coalition and the AIDS Education and Outreach organization co-sponsored an art exhibit opening in the Adams House Art Space that featured rare paintings showing people affected by AIDS. The art selections were on loan from the Harvard AIDS Institute and K. Anthony Appiah, Carswell Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy.

Besides raising students’ awareness, the coalition is hoping to increase involvement in fighting the AIDS crisis worldwide. Currently, the coalition already includes about 150 members.

“As soon as people become aware of the extent of this pandemic, we’re hoping they’ll get involved,” said Will Prichard ’03, coalition member and national director of the Student Global AIDS Campaign, the umbrella organization for the Harvard AIDS coalition.

The coalition has sponsored a letter-writing campaign to ask government officials to increase funding for the worldwide AIDS crisis over the past semester, tabling at the Head of the Charles and at its other events. Prichard said the coalition plans to step up the campaign over the next week.

The activities have already resonated well with some students.

Katrien R. Naessens ’02, who received an e-mail about AIDS week, said she realized the gravity of the AIDS crisis, being from Nairobi, Kenya. She forwarded the coalition message advertising the events to her house e-mail list, Winthrop’s ThropTalk.

“I’ve worked with AIDS orphans in Africa, and I’ve seen the increase of AIDS cases in the population,” Naessens said. “It’s really quite obvious what’s going on there. It’s a huge problem.”

The response from organizations helping out with AIDS Awareness Week has been amazing, according to Garbarino. “We’ve had organizations that have come up and said, tell us what to do,” she said.

One of those organizations, Har’d CORPS, is sponsoring a 12-hour dance marathon this Friday, Dec. 8, in hopes of raising $20,000 for the the Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Har’d CORPS member and marathon organizer Lauren E. Bonner ’04 described the response so far as “fairly unbelievable” and said the organization is hoping to get about 250 dancers to participate.

“[AIDS Week] will play a role in waking us up to the fact that it’s our generation being wiped out,” Harvard AIDS Coalition co-founder Ben M. Wikler ’03 said. “Half of last year’s 5 million infections were in young people under 24.”