Celebrities lead anti-Aids crusade

By Stevens Muendo

After declaring they are in a love relationship last week, media personality Walter Mong’are a.k.a Nyambane and his celebrity girlfriend Linda Muthama hit the prison yards.

Well, it is not that they have been convicted of any crime. Au contraire, the pair have been promoting home-based HIV testing and counseling among prison service staff members.

They were not alone in this noble undertaking as other celebrities led hundreds of youth into a nationwide anti-Aids campaign over the weekend. World Aids Day is marked on the 1st of December.

The Kenya Nationwide Aids and STD Control Programme (Nascop) and HIV-free Generation (HFG) organised the campaigns, dubbed G-Jue-G-Pange.

LINDA IN MOMBASA

Walter and Linda flew to Mombasa and joined the Aids Control Unit (ACU) of Kenya Prison Services where they spearheaded a whole day of HIV testing and counseling.

They looked elated as they led the queue and got tested before embarking on a one-on-one Prisons’ Staff counselling process.

"The aim of this approach is to bring testing and counseling closer to the staff in the comfort of their homes as it gives families an opportunity to get to know their HIV status together and be able to support each other in ensuring that there is no anxiety when it comes to disclosure," Walter told MondayBlues.

He added, "Previous campaigns have centered around inmates but with the realisation that the Staff are highly vulnerable, we decided to engage them in the exercise."

Meanwhile, a number of celebrity musicians and other players in the showbiz industry led hundreds of youth in an anti-Aids awareness nationwide campaign over the weekend.

As part of exercises made to mark World Aids Day, the celebrities led the youth through a free testing and counselling campaign.