The AIDS HealthCare Foundation (AHF) has announced it is extending an awareness campaign aimed at reducing the spread of HIV new infections and unplanned pregnancies in University of Rwanda campuses IPRCs and the city of Kigali.
This campaign includes providing free condoms through dispensers installed at various spots within the campuses and the city.
According to data from Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), in Rwanda there are around 230,000 people living with HIV, representing 3% of the Rwanda population.
Young people are among groups most infected, especially girls 20 – 24 years old with a prevalence rate of 1.8% while it is 0.6% among boys of in same age band.
Results from a recent survey indicated that there were more than 30,000 unwanted pregnancies among young girls.
To contribute to the resolution of the above issues, AIDS HealthCare Foundation (AHF) – Rwanda launched a campaign in universities around the country with the aim of raising awareness on HIV and unwanted pregnancies prevention among students in campuses because most of them are in the mentioned age and therefore at risk.
Thus, on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, the awareness campaign continued in Rukara campus in Kayonza District, Eastern Province.
During a short interview, the Prevention Programs Manager within AHF-Rwanda, Mr. Nteziryayo Narcisse said that the main reason of conducting such campaign is to remind young people that HIV/AIDS is still a pandemic and urge them to protect from themselves.
He added that AHF will continue to strengthen prevention measures among young people including those still in school because in general, young people are the most vulnerable compared to others.
He said, “We take care of those who are still in university so that they have knowledge and continue to teach each other. They should know again how HIV is transmitted and how to prevent it. Services are available to prevent new infections, including distribution of free condoms through condom dispensers.”
A “condom dispenser” is a specially designed device where condoms are placed so that anyone who needs them can easily take them.
Nteziryayo pointed out that these materials are placed in different corners of the campus and that no one should encounter difficulty to access condoms due to confidentiality issue because dispensers have been placed in secured places.
He also said that through collaboration with UR Rukara Campus, a team of students was established to ensure condoms refilling so that nobody will miss them.
“Preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS will contribute to reduction of the number of school dropouts and unplanned pregnancies because pregnant young girl suffers from many negative consequences. This is also the objective of our Girls Act program which cares for girls by empowering them with knowledge about how to behave. So, this is surely in line with our goals,” said Nteziryayo.
Gatera Jonas, the guild president at UR Rukara Campus, said, “We are happy for having received condoms from AHF-Rwanda because this will prevent us from contracting many sexually transmitted diseases including HIV, and unplanned pregnancies.”
The Campus Administrator of UR Rukara Campus, Nshimiyimana Salomon, said that this activity is very important because apart from providing condoms, the session was an opportunity to give lessons to students and remind them about the importance of preventing HIV.
“But, in particular this is an added value among others because this organization has people with special knowledge, who can even conduct in-depth research. Therefore, as students is another force that comes to help us to better understand what sexually transmitted diseases are. We hope that acquired knowledge will help us a lot and we expect that this collaboration will continue.”
