Antiqueños from various sectors lit candles at the President Diosdado Macapagal Gym in Trade Town, Barangay Dalipe, San Jose, Antique, during the 33rd International AIDS Candlelight Memorial on Sunday, May 15. T. VILLAVERT / PIA
SAN JOSE, Antique – Sunday’s International AIDS Candlelight Memorial here was not just for people living with HIV (PLHIV).
Antiqueños from various sectors lit candles at the President Diosdado Macapagal Gym here to show support to PLHIV and remember those who died of AIDS, or acquired human immune deficiency syndrome.
HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, causes AIDS, an incurable immune system disease.
“Today, we also remember those who are working to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, those who are caregivers, and other sectors who work to minimize the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS,” Pastor Reynel Santarin said in a mass.
Aside from the mass and candle-lighting ceremony, the 33rd International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, themed “Engage, Educate and Empower,” also included a forum and voluntary counseling and blood-testing.
There were 47 PLHIV in Antique since 2000, according to nurse Aben Cardinal, HIV coordinator for the Provincial Health Office (PHO).
Fourteen of them have died, while the others continued to receive assistance from PHO.
PHO and the municipal health office here led this year’s AIDS Candlelight Memorial. (PIA/PN)