By Nathalene DeFreitas
THE Ministry of Health through the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) yesterday announced the winners of the HIV/AIDS art competition and also launched the HIV/AIDS jingle videos.

According to the Community Mobilisation Coordinator of NAPS, Mr. Nazim Hussain, the art competition was aimed at raising awareness and to highlight the need for greater involvement of children in primary and secondary schools as it relates to HIV/AIDS.

He said this year it has been recognised that there is a generation of Guyanese who are living in an era of HIV/AIDS and it is anticipated that after the participation of such competitions a stage will be set for children to be more aware of the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

Hussain disclosed that the main objective of the competition was to encourage participants on their thinking and their role in response to HIV/AIDS and to also empower young people to make a difference in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in their schools and their communities.

Director of NAPS, Dr. Shanti Singh said the challenge globally is to promote effective programmes that can engage young people in all aspects in response to HIV/AIDS.

“These drawings will be for us not simply as decorative products, but will serve as a medium for discussions, for understanding new concept, for revealing insights of the environment in which we operate and for recognizing the role each one can play in making our society a better place,” said Dr. Singh.

Present at the award ceremony was the Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy who expressed his delight in the increased interest of children that have been generated in this year’s competition. He challenged the coordinators of the programme to ensure that in next year’s competition there is participation by each school in every region with at least 100 schools participating in the competition.

The minister said that the Ministry of Education will also be playing a more active role and teachers must also work with the students to ensure greater participation.

“These are activities that we must see as important in our lives; it’s a vehicle through which children could put on paper what is on their mind. These art works demonstrate what is on children’s mind. I hope that we will be able to take these throughout the country so that the people will learn from them. What these work demonstrates, is that our children have knowledge and talent and it is time as a country we begin to pay greater attention and placed greater values on these talents,” Dr Ramsammy emphasised.

The art competition was divided into two categories, the topic for the primary category was “Our children a future without HIV” and the secondary category topic was “Don’t let HIV ruin your life”. Entries came from seven regions across the country and 42 schools placed 235 entries in the competition.

In the primary category there were four winners from Mae’s School and two from Clonbrook Primary School. Two computer systems were given to Mae’s School and one to Clonbrook Primary.

In the secondary category there were five winners from Annai Secondary School and one winner from North Georgetown Secondary. Annai Secondary received the prize of three computer systems.

The winners of the competition also received cheques and all the children who participated in the competition received text books.

The drawings of this year and last year will be on a mobile exhibition to schools across Guyana so as to motivate other school children to participate in the competition and to join in the fight and to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The jingle competition saw more than 80 entries and 10 jingles were recorded. The HIV/AIDS jingles are expected to air soon on both radio and television.