HIV/Aids training in Mauritania
Computer Aid is providing hundreds of computers for use in HIV/Aids education in schools in Assaba in Mauritania in a programme run by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Assaba is the poorest region in Mauritania with 84 percent of its population living below the poverty threshold, according to the United Nations. Most of the people living in the region are cattle farmers and have been negatively impacted by climate change, with records showing a 40 percent decline in rainfall over recent years.
The UNFPA worked with the regional government to set up a youth centre that functions as a counselling and information centre, providing advice and training to teenagers about HIV/Aids. Computer Aid provided PCs which are being used to disseminate HIV/Aids information to the young people and to give them training in ICT to help their job prospects.
The computers are also being used to collate statistics on reproductive health and HIV infections to help the United Nations to devise a youth policy for the region. The Mauritanian Ministers of Health and Culture and the State Secretary for ICT were present at an official ceremony handing over the first consignment of computers.
Mauritanian Ministers at an official ceremony handing over Computer Aid PC's.