Kolkata (IANS): Over 600 HIV positive people from 19 districts of West Bengal took part in a marathon run here Sunday ahead of World AIDS Day Monday.

Organised by Bengal Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (BNP plus) - a state-level network for and by people affected with the deadly virus - the Red Ribbon Marathon saw men and women from various strata of life take part on the theme for 2008: "Take the lead and combat HIV/AIDS".

The runners started off from the north gate of the city's landmark Victoria Memorial and returned there after passing through various parts of the city as part of the programme. The run was supported by Unicef and the West Bengal State Aids Control Society.

BNP plus has 4,654 members in its network. In 2007, there were 33 million HIV positive people in the world, and 2.5 million of them were from India.