Shillong, May 26: Nearly 500 people in Meghalaya have died due to AIDS related illness in the past 10 years.

This was revealed at a programme for observing International AIDS candle light memorial organized by the Meghalaya State Network of Positive People (MNSP+) supported by the Meghalaya AIDS Control Society (MACS) here on Saturday.

According to officials, a total of 493 people affected with HIV/AIDS have died from 2007 till date.

Out of 3261 people living with HIV/AIDS, only around 1800 are registered with the MNSP+. There are 162 children living with HIV/AIDS in the state, they said.

The event not only serves as a symbolic reminder of all friends who have passed away, but also of the multifaceted social, emotional, physical, economical, and political struggles that all those living with HIV go through on a daily basis.

Further, the candlelight memorial also demonstrates the continued need for the visibility, leadership and commitment of communities and individuals to take action and achieve a better future for people living with HIV. There is no better time to act than now.

In her testimony during the occasion, a mother of three children shared bitter experience after she and one of her child were diagnosed with the disease when her family disowned her.

“Many times I feel like giving up and I decided not to take medicine anymore because my family was never there for when I need them the most,” she said.

The woman said that her eight year old child had to go out and work to takecare of her and the family. “My children love me and that is the reason why I decided to live for them,” she said while expressing her gratefulness to the support extended by the MSNP+.

Addressing on the occasion, Congress veteran leader and former Assembly Speaker Charles Pyngrope said that incidence of AIDS in the state is rising and it remains among the most pressing and urgent of global challenges with lives and livelihood daily at stake.

Pyngrope, who is also Nongthymmai legislator said that he was moved by the words spoken by the woman in her testimony and offered to help her with Rs 10,000.

When the people applauded by his announcement, Pyngrope said, “No, I should not be appreciated for that as I feel that is a duty of each and every citizen and each and every person among us spread this word that we need to help these people then only we can say our society is growing in love and in passion otherwise we are all sick, we all have some diseases. My appeal to all let’s put our hands together.”

On the other hand, the former Speaker said that the real reason we haven’t beaten this epidemic boils down to one simple fact – “we value some likes more than others. We value men more than women, straight love more than gay love, the rich more than the poor and adults more than adolescent.”

Stating that AIDS does not discriminate on its own it has no biological preference for black bodies for women bodies for gay bodies for youth or the poor, it doesn’t single out the vulnerable, the oppressed or the abused it doesn’t, he said, “We single out the vulnerable, the oppressed and we single out the abused. Therefore we ignore them, we let them suffer and sometimes we let them die.”

He further stated that the key vitals to ending AIDS is mobilizing and empowering the next generation to push for social change.

“If we support our young people, if we give them the confidence, the space to speak out against injustice and if we take the time to listen to and empower them, this will end this epidemic,” he said.

Lauding the MSNP+ for its contribution towards such people, Pyngrope said, “This is who we should be supporting and this is where the MACS must play a much bigger role in supporting these people. We cannot lose our sense of urgency because despite all the progress made it is still not enough.”

According to him, AIDS virus has a stigma that people have been afraid to talk about.

Meanwhile, the Congress leader also said that he would take up the matter with the chief minister Conrad K Sangma for him to do something for the MSNP+.

He recalled that when he was the Speaker of the Assembly, he had formed a Forum on HIV/AIDS where all the MLAs are members and were supposed to contribute a lakh each from their MLA funds.

“I had constituted a fund that would be gathered from the MLA funds of the all the 60 MLAs. I wrote to the then chief minister to deduct one lakh per term from every MLA for the MACS which in turn will help the MSNP,” he said.