Blog

“Let Communities Lead”

Increasingly, with so much progress made by actors and stakeholders in rolling back the progression in communities, the Community Empowerment, Development and Rehabilitation Commission (CEDAR-COM) are taking front stage, and touching more lives.

The PCC Health Services HIV Program PCC cares have not left the communities behind in more than 20 years for combating HIV both through facility services and community outreaches. As the PCC HIV Program Coordinator, Rita Mbah would gladly explain, comprehensive HIV work entails clinical, community and case management approaches that address not only the illness but also awareness, modes of transmission, treatment processes, community response, rights and responsibilities and stakeholder leadership and mobilization. CEDAR-COM, technical support partners to PCCs programmes, projects and structures has not missed this additional opportunity to throw its weight behind this year’s theme.

In honor of World Aids Day in 2023, CEDAR-COM collaborated with the Freemind Center to reach out to locals in keeping with this year’s theme of “Let Communities Lead.” Seizing the opportunity, the team visited the neighborhood to create awareness about HIV, conduct free testing, and offer counseling. In total, 345 inhabitants of the Molyko community were reached and given sufficient, age-appropriate information about the disease’s effects, mechanisms of transmission, and preventative measures.

A total of 327 persons, 193 of whom were boys and 134 of whom were girls, took the HIV test out of the 345 persons who were made aware of the virus. Majority of those tested were negative with just a few positive cases. People who tested positive were counselled and referred for treatment. The community health workers went ahead and gave male and female condoms along with lubricants to adolescent girls, young women, and men in order to give them the help they need to curb the spread of the disease. Health workers urged these young men and women to visit whenever they require contraception in order to make the support sustainable.

We are proud of this global effort to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic and encourage everyone to get tested, know their status and support those affected by this disease. We stand strongly for community engagement and shared leadership for causes like this. Can you also take the lead?