NACA tasks youths on strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has enjoined adolescents and young people in the country to be actively involved in fighting HIV/AIDS.

The Director General (DG) of NACA, Dr Gambo Aliyu, made the call in Abuja during the National Symposium on HIV Prevention Models for Adolescents and Young People, with support from USAID through the Key Population Care-1 Project implemented by Heartland Alliance and John Snow Incorporated (JSI).

Represented by Dr James Anenih, the Director, Community Prevention and Care Service of the agency, Dr Aliyu said it was important for their voices to be heard because the government was developing initiatives to empower youths in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

He further said, “Hence the youths should also be part of developing strategies in order to know what will work for them.”

He noted that evidence compiled in the last year indicated that a huge part of the population generating HIV infection were adolescents and young people, and that the response now was to engage them in specific services that would be tailored towards prevention and treatment.

He added that part of the strategy the government was deploying for adolescents and young people was to empower them to reduce behaviours that put them at the risk of contracting HIV.

The Country Lead of JSI Research and Training Incorporated, Dr Olawale Durosinmi-Etti, said the organisation was providing technical support to the government on HIV prevention to ensure that interventions were designed in a way that would benefit Nigerians.

He said it was also geared towards ensuring that the needs and challenges of the target key populations of the intervention were addressed.

Dr Yinka Falola, the Chair of the 2023 World AIDS Committee of NACA,  said, “We are calling the attention of all our policymakers, religious leaders and community leaders to work with us so that ending HIV/AIDS could be made a reality in Nigeria by 2030.”