The University of Tulane in conjunction with the National University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health (NURSPH), yesterday awarded certificates to twenty social workers at the Kicukiro based School of Public Health.

According to Dr. Sonia Gilkey, one of the instructors at the school, the social workers had undergone six weeks training on psycho-social health and well being and that the training had two modules, each taking three weeks.

Dr. Gilkey added that the trainees were going to train the direct service providers working with People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in different parts of Rwanda and that this program was a way of building capacity within the society.

The twenty participants included people from different organizations working with people living with HIV/AIDS. Among them were Care International, ARCT-Ruhuka, Drew Cares International, and Intra Health.

Others were from the National University of Rwanda (NUR), Kigali Independent University (ULK) and Kigali Health Institute (KHI).

Joshua Rodd, the Tulane University representative at the NUR, said that this program is going to be of great importance since all the trainees were either people who have been involved in managing HIV/AIDS programs or training care givers.

"The training has equipped them with advanced skills in psychosocial care to ensure that they give strong holistic care to people living with HIV/AIDS,” he underscored.

One of the trainees from KHI, Clementine Kanzayire, explained the training has taught them how to approach victims of HIV/AIDS and also case management and linkage tactics whereby they would be able to link the PLWHA to appropriate organisations which could help them in specific cases.

NURSPH was founded in 2000 in partnership with Tulane University after recognising the importance of an accredited world-class public health school to Rwanda.

The partnership sought and has received funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) since 2000.

The program has also, been receiving funding from President George Bush’s plan the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief since 2004.

The partnership receives an approximate amount of US$1m every year from the USA Government.

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