By Our Reporter
The annual Y Plus Beauty Pageant is back. Returning for its 5th edition, it will be held on Saturday, November 24 in Kampala. The pageant which is organised by the Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS (UNYPA) is geared towards ending stigma and discrimination among people living with HIV/AIDS through empowering the young people with knowledge and advocacy skills to enable them lead the fight against the stigma.
Speaking during the launch ceremony of this year’s edition held at Skyz Hotel last Friday, Nicholas Niwagaba, the UNYPA Executive Director, noted that pageant is one of the ways through which they are building capacity of young people living with HIV and training them to be ambassadors of change in their communities.
“The success stories from the ambassadors that take part in the Y+ beauty pageant show that these young people grow and shine with this platform because firstly; they are shown that they are beautiful, secondly, they are told to embrace themselves and lastly to adhere to their medications. We hold the pageant to build the capacity of young people living with HIV to equip them as ambassadors of change in their communities.” He noted.
During the same ceremony, Nawanyanga Gloria, the Miss Y+ 2017, attested to being involved in several sensitization programs aimed at empowering young people since being crowned beauty queen last year.
“As an ambassador, I have been doing lots of outreach programs in schools and the community at large through which I have sensitized the masses about HIV/AIDS and educated them about their rights.” Nawanyanga Gloria said.
“We need safe places such as this pageant where we young people living with HIV/AIDS can freely express ourselves and also feel empowered to reach our full potential.” She added.
To be held under the theme, “Confronting HIV with bold steps”, the pageant will see several auditions held across the country where regional winners will be selected to compete for the ultimate Mr & Miss Y+ crown. The regional auditions will first be hosted in Wakiso district for central region on October 6, then Apac district for the Northern region on October 13, Rukungiri district for the Western region on October 27 and finally Iganga district for Eastern region on November 3.
