WESTERN PROVINCE

KARONGI — Non-governmental organisations in the Western Province have been urged to extend their AIDS campaign to villages.

The President of Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS, Aimable Mwananawe told forum members that AIDS has moved from urban centres to villages and their role is needed.

The meeting took place at Home ST. Jean in Karongi District last Thursday.

Commending the NGOs and other development partners for their various interventions, Mwananawe, reminded them of the need to follow up their activities in order to ensure their effective implementation.

"Aids prevalence has reduced from 13% to 3% in the recent years. We appreciate your contributions in this success,” he said.

The meeting also aimed at designing strategies aimed to decentralise the NGOs’ Forum to the districts level. This has already been done in the Eastern Province.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, NGOs elected their districts representatives who will help the District Aids Control Commission (CDLS) in fighting HIV/Aids in districts.

The programme will cover the whole country and will go down to the Sector levels as part of decentralisation.

The meeting was attended by different NGOs including CARITAS Rwanda, ARBEF, and Foundation Barakabaho among others.

The Forum for NGOs was formed in 1999 with 30 members but has since increased to 120.       

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