The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Anthony Kayanda
4 November 2009
None of all villagers voluntarily tested for their HIV ad AIDS status at Rusaba village in Kasulu district, Kigoma region, has neither been found to be suffering from the dreaded disease nor to be infected by the deadly virus.
The results of over the villagers tested for their HIV and AIDS status baffled health workers, as it was their first village to come up with such results.
Kasulu District Council HIV and AIDS coordinator, Mr Said Mwakapugi, said 2,500 out of 15,000 residents of the village were voluntarily tested between July and September this year, but all were found to be HIV negative.
He attributed the low HIV and AIDS infection rate at the village to low interaction between the villagers and outsiders infected with the virus and to an awareness campaign on HIV and AIDS infections conducted at the village.
Tanzania Red Cross had in collaboration with Action Aid International been conducting the HIV and AIDS awareness campaign on HIV and AIDS prevention at the village, he said. The local families are also close knit and religious.
Mr Mwakapugi said that the HIV and AIDS sensitization programme ought to continue in the village notwithstanding results of the voluntarily HIV and AIDS tests.
Calling on residents of Kasulu district to emulate the village, Mr Mwakapugi said the district council envisaged devising strategies of minimizing if not eradicating HIV and AIDS infections in the entire district.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
