| As was assured by the Ministry of Health at the beginning of this year, five more Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), have been awarded free house lots.According to Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, Dr Shanti Singh, the names of the five lucky candidates were drawn recently using a lottery scheme which was enacted about two years ago when the first batch of five PLWHA were awarded house lots.Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy said yesterday that a total of 71 persons had applied to the Health Ministry to be a part of the programme, but only 55 were deemed eligible after the information that they had provided were scrutinised.The minister disclosed that in order for persons to qualify for the house lots it must be confirmed that they are indeed infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) thus are regarded as being in a vulnerable circumstance.In addition, eligible persons must be a single-parent,Cheap Air Max 270 Mens, cannot be the owner of a home, neither have applied for a house lot at the Housing Ministry in the past. Their employment status is also scrutinised.The scrutinising process of the inaugural venture about two years ago found that one of the applicants had provided false information to the Ministry. However this newspaper has not been able to ascertain whether a similar problem had arisen this time around, causing 16 persons to be disqualified from the programme.According to Minister Ramsammy, while it would have been ideal to help all of the eligible applicants,China Jerseys, the efforts are unavoidably constrained,Cheap NFL Jerseys, thus the need for the lottery approach. The identity of the awardees will not been released, since according to the Minister,Wholesale Jerseys, there is still need to protect infected persons from stigma and discrimination which even today abounds despite desperate efforts to dispel such behaviour.In order to help more PLWHA over time, the Minister disclosed that the Ministry intends to make the venture, which is conducted in direct collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Water, an annual one.The governmental ministries with support from the World Bank Project had conceptualised and brought the lottery house lot project into being as a special initiative. The venture also garnered support from USAID/GHARP.At the conclusion of the first attempt at the project, five well deserving PLWHA were selected and were afforded the house lots, compliments of the Housing Ministry.The awardees were also, as they will this time around, afforded free construction of their homes through the Ministry’s collaboration with humanitarian organisations Food for the Poor and Habitat for Humanity.According to Dr Singh,Cheap Jerseys From China, it was after evaluating the venture at its conclusion the first time that it was found to be worthwhile thus efforts were made to embark on a second round this year.Advertisements of the new project were displayed primarily at the various HIV/AIDS treatment sites,Anders Nilsson Jersey, for the most part of last year,Bobby Doerr Jersey, particularly at those closest to possible house lot locations. |
