Japan Gives Grant to Kenya for HIV AIDS Campaign

The HIV and AIDS campaign in Kenya received a generous gift on Tuesday. Japan offered to give a $3.6 million (239 million shillings) grant toward combating the deadly plague that is taking over the country.

The deputy chief of Japanese mission in the country, Mashiro Omura, said that $3.2 million (215 million shillings) would be used for purchasing AIDS testing kits and the remaining $350,000 (24 million shillings) would be used for producing cultural and educational television programs.

The designated money that is for the actual kits would be used to purchase 2.8 million sets of rapid HIV/AIDS test kits for more than 800 voluntary testing centers within public hospitals and outlets throughout the country.

Even though the number of infected individuals in the country has considerably decreased by 6%, more than 1.3 million Kenyans are still living with AIDS, which is why he feels further steps need to be taken in order to prevent the disease from spreading anymore.

Omura said the funds specifically set aside for the television program initiative were channeled to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) and to the Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), which is the Japanese public broadcasting agency, to improve on native television programs.

Kenya’s Finance Minister, Amos Kimunya, even commended the Japanese government for a grant in that amount to promote economic, educational and cultural efforts between the two countries.

Kimunya also noted that the newly funded cultural program would promote tourism between the two countries and improve learning for students who are pursuing degrees in the Japanese language at the Kenyatta University in Africa.

To read more stories on World issues, please visit:

http://news.finditt.com/NewsList.aspx?cat=11&wcat=1