Last weekend, 50 religious leaders in Rwanda got tested for HIV in an effort to promote voluntary testing and eliminate stigma in the sub-Saharan African country, local newspaper The New Times/AllAfrica.com reports (allafrica.com, 3/17).
According to the article, the testing event, which was held at Hotel La Palisse in Nyandungu, Rwanda, united 90 percent of the country’s religious leaders to encourage their congregations—particularly young people—to get tested and, if positive, to seek treatment.
“Since statistics show that 15 percent of the sick are children below 18 years—and these are the leaders of tomorrow—religious leaders should fight the stigma and talk to the youths about sexuality in their own words,” said Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, executive secretary of the country’s National AIDS Control Commission.
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