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.
