The World Bank Multi-sector AIDS Project (MAP) has announced a 32 million-US fund for Rwanda to fight HIV/AIDS, an official said here Wednesday.

According to the MAP representative, Fred Manzi, the reason that MAP donated the money was that compared to other provinces in Rwanda, the northern Ruhengeri province has a relatively low number of projects that fight HIV/AIDS.

"We realized that there is a need to give support to Ruhengeri province and decided to donate 32 million dollars to fight AIDS in the province," Manzi said when meeting with provincial officials.

The officials who attended the meeting were urged to encourage Ruhengeri residents to visit HIV/AIDS center to know their status.

Manzi also revealed that MAP has funds available for supporting associations charged with fighting HIV/AIDS and he encouraged the formation of more associations.

The MAP program was established in 2000 by the World Bank to help African countries to build the institutional, organizational and human resources necessary to undertake a large scale program of prevention, care, treatment and research in response to HIV and AIDS.

Rwanda is one of the regional states that has a big number of HIV/AIDS scourge mainly due to the genocide background in which many women and children were sexually abused.

Source: Xinhua