Mai Aisha Sisters and Youth Aids Programme (MASYAP), a group of women in the fight against HIV/AIDS says it is committed in empowering Muslim women and youth on mitigating the impact of the pandemic.
Mariam Khan, the coordinator for the grouping says they are mainly targeting women and youth because they are the most vulnerable groups in society with less information about the disease.
“We empower women and youth in capacity building and different HIV/AIDS training programmes which in turn can help them on how they can come up with ideas in HIV/AIDS.
“It is important to involve women and youth in HIV/AIDS programmes because in the past Muslim women were not comfortable going to hospitals and other service providers to seek information on HIV/AIDS. They were dying in silence,” she says.
Khan therefore said, in future they intend to establish VCT centres where Muslim women and youth will be able to access counselling services.
MASYAP started three years ago and it receives financial support from Mai Aisha Trust. Currently, it has over 200 members from different support groups in Blantyre.
Reporting by Robert Kumwenda, Malawi Muslims Official Website official Correspondent
