Residents encouraged to test for HIV

WESTERN PROVINCE KARONGI — Residents of the Gitesi Sector, Karongi district on Saturday voluntarily tested for HIV as part of the activities to mark the World Aids Day. The tests were facilitated by the National Aids Control Commission (CNLS) in collaboration with the district executive. During the ceremony, testimonies from people living positively revealed that most Aids patients waste their resources visiting traditional doctors before seeking medical treatment. Valerie Mukaberwa, a mother of eight, has been living with HIV since 1994. She said she was economically stable shortly after contracting the virus. However, she later lost her property while seeking answers to her suffering from witch doctors. “I sold all my property so that witch doctors could tell me what I was suffering from. But later when I went to the doctor he told me I had HIV, he advised me on how I should conduct my life up today,” she said. At the function, the Executive Secretary of the CNLS, Antoine Semukanya advised Rwandans and couples in particular, to take HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) in order to win the Aids war. “Most of us waste a lot of our resources to traditional doctors and other people in search of medication to treat unknown illness. But finally you go to the doctor and realise it is Aids. You should take VCT and know your health status,” he said, in reference to Mukaberwa’s testimony. Semukanya further reminded residents that VCT is provided free of charge in order to help the entire Rwandan population know their HIV status. Ends