What to do in order to spend the school holidays safely avoiding sexually-transmitted diseases (STD) and early pregnancy? It was in an attempt to respond to this question that the HIV/AIDS Unit of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) held a sensitisation session for school children during a holiday camp organized in the grounds of the Collège Copro in Daloa on Thursday, 29 August 2013.



For UNOCI's HIV/AIDS Adviser, the aim was to increase the knowledge of the 200 school children on the various methods of prevention and transmission and the consequences of STDs among youths who are the most vulnerable sector of society. He also took the opportunity to promote abstinence among those who are not sexually active and protection methods for those who already are.



One of the participants, A, Mao Grace Mondésire, welcomed the sensitization. "{I now understand AIDS, this pandemic that people are always talking about, better}," she said. {I'm going to keep myself healthy during the school holidays so I can succeed in my studies}". An opinion also shared by Sery Mireille, who promised to pass on the things she had learnt to her friends and colleagues.



One of the organizers of the school holiday course, Dolé Alain, expressed the hope that the sensitization would continue in order to decrease the rate infection of sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancies in schools. "{UNOCI has given our pupils the opportunity to learn about the ill effects of STDs and HIV/AIDS and the importance of avoiding early pregnancy which is increasingly a problem in schools}".