Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Giving them much needed support

— Photo: M. Karunakaran

For a cause: Volunteers and peer educators take a pledge to support persons living with HIV at a programme organised by Madras Christian Council of Social Service on the Marina on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: A stretch of the Marina beach on Tuesday was transformed in to an art gallery to create public awareness of the cause of persons living with HIV and the need to support them.

Organised by the Department of HIV/AIDS, Madras Christian Council of Social Service (MCCSS), the event exhibited 10 paintings by the Government Fine Arts College students.

The paintings featured the impact of HIV/AIDS and the social stigma faced by those living with HIV.

While one of the students, A.Kalimuthu’s painting featured the agony of a HIV/AIDS infected person seeking support from society, the work of K.Nagarajan, another student, focussed on the mother to child transmission of HIV.

MCCSS executive secretary R. Isabel said the programme was organised to mark the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day. Besides remembering those who died, the event also aimed at creating awareness to support persons living with HIV.

The organisation is supporting 50 such persons with medical care and also provided them micro-credit to pursue income generation activities.

It has also trained 250 peer educators in 50 slums across the city to increase awareness of AIDS, she said.

Volunteers and peer educators lit the candle lights and took a pledge to support such persons. They also distributed pamphlets on AIDS awareness during the occasion.

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