Fifty people living with HIV/AIDS in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State have received financial assistance under the Belawu Ajoke Child and Women Care Foundation.

Community News gathered that the beneficiaries were those that received training in nylon and soap making earlier organised by the foundation.

The Director and Programme Coordinator of the foundation, Alhaji Abdulraheem Zubair, in his remarks during the cash presentation at Omu-Aran General Hospital, said it was to assist the beneficiaries to set up their businesses.

Zubair said the desire to improve the living standard of the people living with the virus and to remove unnecessary stigmatisation associated with the disease informed the gesture.

“We felt this people can be very useful to themselves, and the environment they live in.

“So, the foundation through our educators, monitored and interacted with the patients, in order to know their feelings and the kind of trade they are capable of handling.

“It is in this process that they were grouped into two and intensively trained in nylon and soap making for them to be self-reliant.

“The monetary assistance is to enable them purchase the relevant raw materials needed for the take-off of their trade without much difficulty,” Zubair said.

The Executive Director of the foundation, Dr (Mrs) Funmilayo Ambali, corroborated the programme coordinator, saying that the need to ensure the well-being of the beneficiaries necessitated the financial assistance.

She said the foundation, established in 2011, was also involved in supporting people diagnosed of tuberculosis in order to manage and curtail its spread in Ilorin South Local Government Area of the state.

The representative of the Kwara State Aids Control Agency (KWASACA), Alhaji Yusuf Anifowoshe, lauded the foundation for its foresight, urging other stakeholders to emulate the gesture.

“This is the kind of synergy we expect and we commend the foundation for bringing succour to the patients,” he said.

The Manager, Local Action Committee on Aids (LACA) in Irepodun Local Government Area, Mr Mathew Awoyiola, also thanked the foundation for the gesture, urging it not to relent.