By David Kiarie (Originally published on Sep 26, 2013)
Over 30 people from Kunduchi village in Dar es Salaam are now aware of their HIV status thanks to a free HIV counselling and testing exercise organized by Art In Tanzania last Thursday.
A total of 38 villagers, most of them youthful men, took the bold step after a team of AIT staff and volunteers conducted an HIV and AIDS sensitization campaign at the beach village.
A health officer from PASADA, one of the Unicef children agenda partners, offered the testing services.
By the time darkness fell, many villagers who had registered for the test were still queuing to have the important test done. Many were advised to take the test the next time AIT took the services at the village.
According to Tanzania Health Demographic Survey 2010, the HIV prevalence of people between the ages 15 -49 is 5.7 per cent.