Vizag observes AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day with rally

Government health officials, voluntary organisation members, and HIV/AIDS positive network staff observed the 43rd International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day by taking out a candy rally on the theme “Light the Legacy: Remember. Advance. Act” in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

The rally, flagged off by District Medical and Health Officer Dr. P. Jagadeeshwara Rao and led by District Leprosy, AIDS, and TB Officer Dr. Ronanki Ramesh, proceeded from Satyam Junction to Rama Talkies. Of the 26,203 HIV-positive individuals identified in the district, 11,682 are currently on antiretroviral therapy (ART) medication, while 7,445 deaths have been recorded over the past two decades. The district operates five ART centres.