WESTERN PROVINCE

NYAMASHEKE — A group of 21 residents have undergone a five-day training to enable them fight HIV/Aids spread in the region.

The training that ended last Friday was organised by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) under the programme dubbed Uniformed Personnel and Prisoners (UPP) project.

It took place at Kagano centre de santé conference hall, Kagano sector in Nyamasheke district. The participants were drawn from the 15 sectors of the district, who would act as volunteers in mobilising residents on behavior change.

Addressing participants, Elise Nyiringabo, the UPP training coordinator in Nyamasheke and Karongi districts, urged them to always encourage youth to abstain from sex in order to avoid contracting the virus or to use condoms if they can’t abstain. He also urged faithfulness among married couples.

In order to succeed in stemming Aids spread, he said the trainees should work closely with other institutions involved the Aids campaign.

"We encourage you to spread the message you have got from this seminar to all residents on how to avoid contracting HIV/Aids because it hampers development in any society,” Nyiringabo said.  

Participants were further asked to always encourage residents to go for voluntary Hiv/Aids testing in order to know their health status.

Vincent Muragwa, Nyamasheke Mayor who officially closed the seminar applauded UPP for organising the training and urged them to extend similar training to other residents.

Marie-Louise Uzamuranga who spoke on behalf of the trainees hailed UPP for organising the training and pledged to play an important role to counter the virus spread. The trainees will be called Outreach Change Agents (OCAs).

At the closing ceremony each trainee was also given a book that contains several guidelines on how to prevent and fight against the disease.

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