Hima Cement Ltd. together with her partners held the quarterly community health outreach in style in Rugendabara which is in Kitswamba Sub county Head quarters located about 10km from the Hima plant. We had doctors & counselors from the district hospitals, health initiatives for the private sector, political leaders to name a few that joined us on this day.
The main objective of the outreach was to encourage couple HIV counseling & testing and to also promote male participation in family planning.
Over 20 couples tested for HIV and got awarded with couple testing certificates & a treated mosquito net each. This timely event demonstrated the delivery of integrated health services at a community outreach.
The range of services offered that day included:
- Voluntary HIV/AIDS counseling & testing
- Family planning
- Safe male circumcision (SMC)
- Community awareness & education
Approximately 900 people turned up for the campaign where 300 tested for HIV with a prevalence rate 3% (ratio 1 male: 8 females).
About 50 males showed up for safe male circumsion (SMC), majority of whom were children because most adult males had already undergone the Kikonzo traditional circumcision as a cultural norm.
About 20 males were reached for hormonal family planning methods and all were engaged with different health awareness messages.
The colorful event closed at 6:00pm with more people struggling to have their blood tested for HIV & also get access to SMC services.
