People showed their support for people with HIV/Aids with a Move More Dance Walk around Hamilton yesterday.

The event, to mark World Aids Day, was organised by the Department of Health, which asked the public to wear red for the occasion.

Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday, health minister Kim Wilson told the House of Assembly yesterday that 300 people have HIV in Bermuda.

About 75 per cent are male and two-thirds are aged between 45 and 64.

Ms Wilson said: “It is an important occasion for us to take note of the great strides Bermuda has made, but remember that HIV has not gone away and I am proud that the Department of Health continues to advance public awareness and education so that younger generations continue to be aware of the risks, and sensitive to those affected.”

She said the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organisation recommended that people get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine healthcare.

She said: “Preventive measures such as this have made it possible for Bermuda to have had no mother-to-child transmissions of HIV for two decades.

“Indeed, last August the World Health Organisation, in conjunction with the Pan American Health Organisation, declared that Bermuda has eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

“Bermuda joined what at that time was a shortlist of just five other countries worldwide to have achieved this goal to date.”

She said fewer than ten new HIV infections have been reported each year since 2011, with all as a result sexual contact.

But Ms Wilson said: “While this is good news, the number has remained static, and we want to see that number declining.”