For the next two weeks, the green hillside of Pippy Park in St. John's will bear the colour of a giant red AIDS ribbon, created from thousands of small cloth flags.

Volunteers with Oxfam and the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador placed 8,000 small red flags in the park Monday — representing the number of people who die daily from the disease around the world — to increase awareness about the death toll from AIDS. 

St. John's is one of eight communities across Canada chosen to participate in the event, which is intended in part as a lead-up to next week's 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

Michelle Boutcher, of the provincial AIDS committee, said the project has received a lot of support from across the province.

"People from all over the city and even in communities across Newfoundland are saying, 'Yeah, we want to sign flags, we want to help out in any way we can,'" said Boutcher.

Richard Neron volunteered his time Monday to help install the flags. Neron said that for him the project has a deep personal meaning.

"As a person living with HIV and AIDS, it's just a very emotional thing to see the amount of people that we continue to see dying every single day from this disease," said Neron.

"So this is very important. It's empowering and it's good to hopefully show a message to our government and the rest of the world."

Both Neron and Boutcher say they hope the event will help convince government to put more money into AIDS programs or toward helping AIDS sufferers pay for their medication.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, an estimated 58,000 people in the country were living with HIV infection at the end of 2005.

Approximately 13,500 Canadians have died from AIDS and an estimated 25 million people have died worldwide.

The red ribbon is recognized as a symbol of support for HIV-positive people and those living with AIDS.