Officials from Nyagatare District Hospital talking to journalists.
By Steven Nsamaza;
The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Nyagatare district has been kept at bay after rejuvenated drive to sensitize citizens about the killer disease. AIDS prevalence in the district now stands at 0.95 per cent against 2.4 per cent in the eastern province.
In a drive to combat HIV/AIDS, Nyagatare district hospital in 2004 started a department to exclusively handle a stipulated strategy and offer services to fight new infections while facilitating people living with AIDS.
The district which boarders Uganda and Tanzania would receive HIV infections from the neighbouring countries which also required officials to put in more efforts to guard against the disease.
Dr. Levis Bigirumuhirwa, the doctor in charge of the HIV/AIDS programme at Nyagatare hospital says that they have put much emphasis on prevention applying different strategies to combat the disease. Among them they encourage testing of pregnant women and couples in different groups and sensitizations through community health workers.
Dr. Bigirumuhirwa revealed that in the district they offer services to about 6,143 people living with HIV/AIDS including 228 children. The primary service is to provide them with antiretroviral drugs in different health centres across the district.
He said that through sensitizations many have embraced the services unlike in the past when they would not test. Voluntary testing has helped where many after knowing they are infected with the HIV resort to ARVs which has reduced new infections as well as given a new breath of life to those who are infected.
In an organized visit to Nyagatare in June by ABASIRWA, umbrella organization of journalists in the fight against HIV/AIDS, journalists toured Nyagatare hospital and held discussions with officials and some group of women who were former prostitutes.
The women under an association called Indangamirwa, some have been infected with HIV/AIDS and work closely with the hospital to raise awareness against the disease and to sensitize prostitutes to abandon the profession because of the dangers and their role in spreading HIV/AIDS.
The women told journalists they were lucky to have managed to quit prostitution because now they realize it was time lost because they never got anything tangible apart from misery and being infected with sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS.
Maniragena Frida, a member of Indangamirwa says she was impregnated and gave birth to a baby who was refused by the father. “When you are in prostitution nothing good happens, now I have a child without a father and don’t know what I will tell my child when the time comes,” she wonders.
She says that prostitution is no profession because you can never develop yourself however much money you are paid.
Marie Chantal Bamuhigire, the head of Ingandangamirwa notes that they came together in a bid raise awareness about effects of prostitution and to encourage those who are still in the practice to stop.
For Bamuhigire, people should stop living in denial as the only way they can live a heathy life and stop spreading the disease. Having been infected herself, she has become a strong advocate in Nyagatare and works closely with the hospital in raising awareness against HIV/AIDS.
Rwanda has made significant achievements in HIV response keeping the prevalence rate at 3 per cent since 2005. This has been made possible through numerous strategies in place including education and behavioural change and the country targets at least 90% in ending HIV/AID by 2030.