Nakuru youths have been urged to turn out in large numbers and utilise the on-going Kenya Red Cross led HIV/aids campaigns to know their status and get expert advise.
According to Red Cross society regional office, the rate at which youths, who were the main target of the exercise, were turning up for check up was worrying, further calling on the local administration and church leaders to help them spread the word for the success of the programme.
On Thursday, Red Cross staff took it upon themselves to physically traverse a section of Nakuru West, calling on youths to attend a HIV/aids educational and testing camp slatted for Friday to Sunday at the Mazembe grounds in Kwa Rhonda slums.
"We received a number way below our target in Tennar where we camped last weekend and we don't want the same to be replicated in other areas we are yet to visit," noted Innocent Kimani, the group's team leader and Nakuru sub branch operations manager.
He said that they were concerned with the low turn out, going by the figures recently released by the National Aids Control Council that ranked Nakuru among the top 10 most prevalent areas with the virus.
He further called on parents to talk to their teenage children on the importance of knowing their status before encouraging them to visit the camps for free testing and guidance.
The exercise is being facilitated through a partnership of the county's public health and sanitation department, the Kenya Red Cross society and the National Aids Control Council.