Chlamydia trachomatis are  microbes which are  leading cause for sexually transmitted diseases.

RThe Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) HIV/Aids Division has started a five-year social network campaign to fight HIV prevalence, especially among the youth.

According to Dr Sabin Nsanzimana , the head  of HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections  and Other Blood Borne Infections Division at RBC, social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and e-mails are to be used.

"Starting with last month on wards we agreed with our network of over 500 partners  both under the ministry and private initiatives countrywide  , that each of them  atleast has  to post information regarding their day’s (HIV/Aids-related) activity,” he said.     

Dr Nsanzimana said it is part of the  National HIV/Aids strategic plan under an overall $1billion  to fight HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria .

"We have noticed  over the years that the number of people joining social networks has been increasing tremendously, so we felt  this would serve an  important platform  for disseminating messages related to behavior change,” the HIV/Aids prevention chief said.

He added that previously, they have used  the short message service ( SMS) at the national reference laboratory in Kigali, which, he said, was successful in reducing  the waiting time for HIV/Aids  results  by 70 per cent. 

With social media, Dr Nsanzimana said the fighting the deadly virus will be more flexible because the target is wound down.

"Although this programme  will go on for five years, we will carry out annual evaluations to probe the impact on the ground,” he said, adding that the use of audio-visual artists and painters would also be included as a new mode of dissemination.

These two will join traditional medium such as newspapers, billboards, radios and television shows.

Dr Osee Sebatunzi, the director of Kibagabaga Hospital,  welcomed the move, saying it would be crucial in curbing the prevalence among the youth.

"It will be easy to reachadolescents since the majority of them have social media accounts,” Dr Sebatunzi said.