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Living with HIV/AIDS continues to be a stigma more than 30 years after the virus was first documented in the United States.

It helps make AIDS the silent killer, said Paul B. Goulet, director of the consumer office at the Massachusetts Department of Public Healths Office of HIV/AIDS.

Goulet, a Fall River native, spoke Thursday at the Cultural Center on South Main Street to help commemorate the local observance of the 25th annual World AIDS Day.

Saturday is World AIDS Day. The worldwide event is intended to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS by showing support for people living with HIV, as well as commemorating those who have died from AIDS-related causes.

Thursdays World AIDS Day events in Fall River included a candlelight vigil at Gromada Plaza, followed by a procession to the Cultural Center, where more than 100 people gathered to celebrate the advances made in battling HIV/AIDS but to also be reminded that considerable work remains to be done.

Were still fighting to bring this disease to zero, said Connie Rocha-Mimoso, the program director of HIV Services for Seven Hills Behavioral Health.

Rocha-Mimoso said HIV awareness and education are still drastically needed, especially given that youth and young adults continue to become infected with HIV.

We need to be advocates for the youth, she said. The numbers are going up. The numbers of youths being infected by the virus are outrageous.

More than 25 million people have died of HIV/AIDS since the disease was first documented in 1981, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history, according to UNAIDS, a program of the United Nations.

An estimated 34 million people across the world are HIV-positive, according to health statistics.

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World AIDS Day events in Fall River draw attention to disease