The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : City remembers HIV/AIDS victims

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 16, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

City remembers HIV/AIDS victims

Staff Reporter

Candlelight Day in memory of those who died of AIDS observed There is a `need to understand the sufferings of the victims'

CHENNAI: Greater effort to educate people and create awareness about the seriousness of AIDS was the message of this year's Candlelight Memorial Day. There is a need to understand the suffering of the victims instead of stigmatising them. Since 1983, May 15 has been observed the world over as Candlelight Day in memory of people who died of AIDS. At the candlelight memorial day, B. Desikachari, project director of Family Health International, called for word-of-mouth propagation of information about the disease.

He compared AIDS to leprosy, which had existed even during the time the Bible was written. Yet, people stigmatised and ostracised the victims for several thousand years. AIDS victims too shared the same fate, he said. It was necessary to create awareness in the age group of 15-24, he said.

Film directors B. Sivakumar and G.M. Kumar called for better understanding from the media. They said while producers were willing to allot several crores of rupees for commercial films, those with socially unacceptable themes such as AIDS had no takers. Mr. Sivakumar urged the non-governmental organisations working with AIDS victims to take their messages to the villages.

P. Krishnamurthy, project director of AIDS Prevention and Control Project, who lit the lamp, said the organisations and AIDS victims must work on four themes — of stigma and discrimination, prevention, treatment and care of the affected. The Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS, the AIDS Prevention and Control Project and the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society had organised the candlelight memorial day.

In the evening, activists walked from Hotel Vijay Park Inn in Arumbakkam to Koyambedu Market in memory of those who had died of the disease.

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