Aids council leads memorial today

THE City Aids Watch Council (Awac) in Baguio spearheads on Thursday a candle lighting ceremony and a program at the People’s Park to remind people of the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The candle lighting is in observance of the 30th International Aids.

With the theme “In solidarity,” the observance emphasizes the need for the community and the people living with and affected by HIV to join hands to reduce the stigma and to ensure a more effective response against the dreadful disease.

Aside from the program, there will also poster exhibit and advocacy against HIV/Aids.

World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that 34 million people live with HIV worldwide and said disease remains a challenging reality.

While for many people HIV has become a chronic disease, many others lack access to treatment and experience HIV-related stigma, discrimination and human rights violations on a daily basis.

The International Aids Candlelight Memorial is one of the world’s oldest and largest grassroots mobilization campaigns for HIV awareness. It is led by a coalition of 1,200 community organizations in 115 countries, and is coordinated at the global level by the Global Network of People living with HIV. This is observed by many communities around the world every third Sunday in May.

The Awac with the City Health Services Office’s Reproductive Health and Wellness Clinic (RHWC), under Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes, are in the forefront of advocacy as s well as the monitoring and surveillance of HIV cases in Baguio.

From the start of their monitoring in 1992, 51 HIV cases in the city were recorded with 18 already dead. Of the 51 cases, 36 are male and 15 are female. 19 of the patients are Overseas Contract Workers (OCWs), 16 are MSMs (Male having sex with Male), while the others are categorized as sexually active male/female, wives of PWH (Person Living with HIV), foreigners and five others acquired the dreadful virus through blood transfusion. (Jonah Chaangan)

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