Cebu joins in AIDS memorial day

CEBU, Philippines - The Local AIDS Council of Metro Cebu, through the Youth AIDS Filipinas Alliance, commemorated yesterday the 26th Annual International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day at Zapatera Elementary School with the theme “Many Lives for Human Life.”

“The AIDS Candlelight Memorial is an occasion where communities around the world gather to commemorate and remember those who have died of AIDS,” said Dr. Jonathan Niel Erasmo, Program Coordinator HIV-AIDS Region VII.

Free transportation from the Tri-City Pact (Cebu City, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City) to the event site was provided along with lunch and snacks.

Three seminars were also held simultaneously during the summit: Socio-Psychological Seminar, Spiritual Reviving, and the moral seminar "The Art of Dying."

The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, a program of the Global Health Council, is one of the oldest and largest grassroots mobilization campaigns for HIV/AIDS awareness in the world.

Started in 1983, the Candlelight Memorial takes place every third Sunday in May and is led by a coalition of some 1,200 community organizations in 115 countries hosting local memorials that honor the lost and raise social consciousness about the disease. 

The Candlelight is also much more than just a memorial. It provides opportunities for leadership development, policy advocacy, partnerships, and improvement of community mobilization skills.

With 33 million people living with HIV today, the Candlelight continues to serve as an important intervention for global solidarity, breaking down barriers, and giving hope to new generations.

Aside from commemorating the lives of those lost and affected by AIDS, the Candlelight Memorial program serves as a community mobilization campaign beginning in December and ending with the international memorial yesterday.

The campaign begins on World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 when the Global Health Council unveils the season's official poster and theme.

Yesterday, participants wore red ribbon to have a solidarity to those people that was infected by the said virus and especially to those who have died.  – THE FREEMAN