Published On:Tuesday, December 01, 2009

TODAY, under the theme "Universal Access and Human Rights", countries all over the world will observe World AIDS Day.

And the AIDS Foundation of the Bahamas in conjunction with the Resource Committee at the AIDS Centre and the Ministry of Education have organised a number of events to commemorate the day.

A human red ribbon, in the shape of the well-known symbol for the fight against AIDS, will be formed on Rawson Square today by volunteers and students from a number of schools including Temple Christian School; H O Nash School; R M Bailey High School; C W Sawyer Primary School; Oakes Field Primary School; Albury Sayle Primary School; Christian Heritage School, and Woodcock Primary School.

This has been an annual event for a number of years, and its primary goal is to assist in increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS.

The AIDS Foundation also hosted a fun-run-walk last Saturday. Participants started at Arawak Cay and completed three different routes.

Additionally, the "Know Your Status" photo exhibition at Doongalik Studios, as well as an art competition dealing with the topic of HIV/AIDS was held last week.

And as has become tradition, ColinaImperial hosted the 16th annual Red Ribbon Ball last weekend.

All proceeds were donated to the AIDS Foundation to assist in funding the Outreach Centre for adolescents who are living with HIV and AIDS, education and awareness projects, lab equipment, and assisting patients from the Family Islands.

This comes at a time when the number of new HIV cases in the Bahamas is set to increase.

From January to April 2009, 57 more people were added to the list of people infected with the virus in the Bahamas.

Meanwhile, during the same period, 42 people with HIV saw their disease progress to the critical AIDS stage of the illness, resulting in 22 deaths during those four months.

"If we multiply 57 times four, we get 228. That would be more than we had last year. We'll have to see how things pan out," said Dr Perry Gomez, director of the National AIDS Programme.

World AIDS Day is observed on December 1 each year and serves the purpose of bringing to light the AIDS pandemic. Governments, communities and foundations all over world have been dedicated to waging war against the disease by encouraging individuals who are sexual active to get tested.

There have also been extensive efforts made to remove the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

For more information go to www.worldaidscampaign.org.