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First Thing’s First Campaign

First Thing’s First Campaign

Durban University of Technology’s HIV/AIDS Centre is fuelling the second session of its First Thing’s First Campaign; visiting all campuses to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and other related diseases.

This campaign is especially targeting first-year students as most of them have never tested for HIV before.

To encourage student testing, the centre presents first-year students with a USB with information about HIV/AIDS as well as other information about additional testing centres available to them.

Qalukwenzani Nyawose, first-year Mechanical Engineering student said although she knows about the DUT HIV/AIDS Centre, she had never visited it before. However, after seeing a long queue of students, she decided to go in. “I have gained a lot of information”, Nyawose said.

Zett Masondo, Professional Nurse said this campaign was a success during the first semester. She said the centre decided to do it again this semester because the centre did not want students who register during the second semester to be left out of the campaign. “We encourage all students to test but, we are mostly targeting first years because these resources are not available in high schools,” Masondo said.

BTech Mechanical Engineering student Ayanda Phakathi said he started testing because he is a blood donor and did not want to put other people’s lives in danger. “When you start testing you cannot stop because you always want to know your state of health, and you cannot ignore the urge that pushes you”, he said.

Masondo said the campaign is ongoing, adding that the campaign will be at ML Sultan on August 21-22 while City Campus will be targeted on September 4-5.

–Nomvula Sikakane

Caption: DUT students queuing up to get tested.

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