Close to a thousand New Yorkers came out to a party in support of World AIDS Day on Thursday night (November 29) in the glitzy Meatpacking District neighborhood in Manhattan.
Partygoers danced to the music of electrofunk duo "Chromeo" in the neighborhood, which is popular for its nightclubs and bars.
"I've got to say, I live in this neighborhood, and I have never seen it like, so full of life. It's like really full of life and so much fun," said one New Yorker.
"It's an amazing cause you know. I think it's something that people just take forward and take action in and having big events, because a lot of people don't like to donate," another said.
Among the guests were celebrities such as Scottish actor Alan Cumming, known for his role as Nightcrawler in the X-Men franchise.
"It's such an amazing idea that obviously we would still have AIDS, but the idea we could have a whole generation born without it is a brilliant and amazing thing. I am going to do my best to raise money to make that happen," he said.
A statement on the website of (RED), the organizer of World AIDS Day read that their goal is "to deliver an AIDS-free generation by 2015."
According to a United Nations report, some 34 million people worldwide were living with HIV at the end of 2011. Deaths from AIDS fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.
The number of people newly infected with HIV, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is also falling. At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001.
Rapper Prodigy said that spreading awareness about the illness was close to his heart.
"Actually I have family members that died of AIDS. So it definitely touched close to home, that topic right there. So it's definitely a good thing for more awareness out there and go hard for a cure, you know we need that out here," he said.
December 1 marks World AIDS Day, a day for remembrance as well as hopes for a cure.