Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Rallies, folk-art shows drive home the message against HIV scourge

— Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Stellar role: Mohanlal, film actor, expresses solidarity with the fight against HIV at the programmes organised by the Indian Medical Association on World AIDS Day in the city on Saturday.

Thiruvananthapuram: Awareness campaigns, rallies, folk-art performances, voluntary blood-donation drives, a candlelight vigil and a music concert, organised by the State government as well as non-governmental organisations, marked World AIDS Day in the city on Saturday.

Inaugurating the State-level AIDS Day observance at Cotton Hills Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy said though the stigma related to HIV continued to pose a challenge, the preventive and control strategies adopted by the State had stabilised the infection rate in the community.

Now that HIV prevention strategies were moving in the right direction, the government’s priority would be to ensure that safe blood was available for transfusion across the State, Ms. Sreemathy said. The Centre had sanctioned a grant of Rs. 1 crore for upgrading and networking blood banks in the State. With a blood bank set up in Idukki also, all districts now had that facility.

She said it was a shame that a literate society such as Kerala’s continued to stigmatise HIV-infected people, though the public was aware that HIV was not easily transmitted.

Ms. Sreemathy later visited Governor R.L. Bhatia at the Raj Bhavan and pinned the Red Ribbon, the global symbol of the fight against AIDS, on him.

Folk artistes empanelled by the Kerala State AIDS Control Society presented various programmes on the streets, conveying the message on HIV prevention.

The Indian Medical Association organised cultural and sports programmes and a quiz, in association with networks of HIV-positive persons. Mohanlal, film actor, was the chief guest.

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