NORTHERN PROVINCE GAKENKE—All medical practitioners and local leaders have been challenged to sensitize the public on preventive and precautionary measures to avoid diseases. This appeal was made by the Minister of Health Dr. J. Damascène Ntawukurirwayo, during the official opening of a fully-equipped modern pharmacy of Nemba hospital and a health post (sante postal) in Kivuluga sector, Gakenke district. He said prevention should be emphasized more than cure; the local community should embrace sanitation, family planning, clean water and good hygiene as a way of maintaining good health for all. “The essence of having health posts is to carry out education and offer primary medication where the rural community should learn to practise sanitation,” the minister said. The modern pharmacy in Nemba hospital, the first of its kind, established in Gakenke, will improve on the health conditions in the district. Residents jumped and sang during the inauguration ceremonies of the health post in Kivuluga, the most mountainous sector in the country. Governor Boniface Rucagu warned men against the common habit of polygamy and subjecting underage girls to marriage, a habit he described as uncultured and a tool of spreading HIV/Aids. The minister, who labored to teach the local residents about health and sanitation later held a meeting with the doctors and directors of health institutions in the district. Ends
