World AIDS day is Saturday

Saturday is World AIDS day and a number of activities have taken place locally in North Bay to mark the occasion.

The events have included a proclamation read by the mayor and this year’s Red Scarf Project which sees people put red scarves knitted and donated by volunteers and friends of the Aids Committee of North Bay and area throughout the downtown.

Stacey Mayhall is the executive director of the AIDS Committee of North Bay & Area.

She says it’s important that people know their HIV status.

“There are roughly 14-18 % of the population who are infected with HIV but don’t know they’re infected. Those people are the people who are the ones who are most likely to pass the virus on to someone else,” she says.

Mayhall says people are living longer after contracting HIV but people are also not getting tested and they may not know they have HIV if they’ve been having unprotected sex with someone who might have been infected with HIV and is not using anti-viral drugs.

As well, Day Without Art is taking place Saturday with local art galleries and tattoo studios setting up displays to pay tribute to those lost in the international arts community to HIV/AIDS.