LEWISTON – An interfaith World AIDS Day service will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1, in the Bates College Chapel.

The service will begin in the chapel, 275 College St., near the corner of College Street and Campus Avenue. The community is invited to join this service on the theme “Women, Girls, HIV & AIDS,” organizers said.

The hourlong service will include a candlelight ceremony, community choir and storytelling. The choir will be conducted by Mark Schlotterbeck of Calvary United Methodist Church in Lewiston and accompanied by Phil House of the First Universalist Church in Auburn.

The service will be preceded by a teach-in at 5 p.m. in Skelton Lounge in Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave. The teach-in will be an opportunity for people to ask health professionals questions about HIV and AIDS, with a specific focus on HIV testing, counseling and referrals.

After the interfaith service, a community panel will meet in the chapel to discuss “AIDS Policy.”

Many women and girls are vulnerable to HIV because of the high-risk behavior of others, according to the event’s organizers. This year’s World AIDS Campaign seeks to raise awareness about, and help address, the HIV and AIDS issues affecting women and girls.

Globally, young women and girls are more susceptible to HIV than men and boys, with studies showing they can be 2.5 times more likely to be HIV-infected as their male counterparts, according to the campaign. Their vulnerability primarily results from inadequate knowledge about AIDS, insufficient access to HIV prevention services, inability to negotiate safer sex and a lack of female-controlled HIV prevention methods.

Women and girls are also more likely to face sexual violence, which can accelerate the spread of HIV.

Worldwide, approximately half the people living with HIV are female. This is why HIV-positive women have a unique and valuable role to play, according to the AIDS campaign.

This year’s World AIDS Campaign, which culminates on World AIDS Day, has explored how gender inequality has fueled the AIDS epidemic and has been designed to help accelerate the global response to HIV and AIDS by encouraging people to address female vulnerability to HIV, organizers said.

The Lewiston-Auburn Interfaith Service is sponsored by OutFront of Bates College, Tri-County Health Services/STD Clinic and the Bates’ chaplain’s office.