By Oba Cirimwami (UN Plus DRC)
On December 1, United Nations staff members in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) organize different events to observe World AIDS Day. In 2001, however, this was not possible due to the presidential and parliamentary elections. As a result, UN staff in DRC organized various events on January 14, 2012. In Bukavu, there were a number of events that were organized including a HIV/AIDS awareness raising workshop for staff and their dependents. In the workshop, several speakers were invited to speak on HIV prevention, care and support.
Mr. Oba Cirimwami who is the first member and a representative of UN Plus in DRC was among the invitees. He spoke about:
- The implementation of the UN Cares HIV in the workplace programme with the distribution of the brochure “Living in a World with HIV and AIDS” and the UN Cares ten minimum standards;
- Support provided by UN Plus, which is operational in DRC, to UN staff living with HIV. On this point, he emphasized the importance of voluntary testing to know one’s HIV status.
He also talked about his participation in the UN Plus Global Meeting that took place in Nairobi in December 2012 and the launch of UN Plus in DRC on 20 October 2011 during the UN Day in Kinshasa.
In the workshop, he called for a meeting with managers from different UN agencies in view of their support to the UN Cares programme and the visibility of UN Plus in DRC. Unfortunately, only a handful of managers responded to his appeal. Mr. Cirimwani plans to visit Kinshasa to advocate for the effective implementation of UN’s HIV in the workplace programmes in DRC.
