World AIDS Day: Nigeria launches five-year HIV prevention campaign

The Nigerian government on Thursday launched a five-year national youth-focused HIV prevention campaign to equip adolescents and young people (AYP) with the skills to stay HIV-free.

Tagged "Generation - Negative (Gen-N)", the campaign will identify heroes of Generation N, which will include community leaders, health workers and young people, who will break down barriers to accessing care and serve as community champions.

Deputy Director and Chief Prevention Officer of the National AIDS Control Agency (NACA), Daniel Ndukwe, said Gen-N heroes will also inspire and empower young people and their peers to adopt healthy behaviors and staying HIV-negative.

Mr. Ndukwe, in a statement to commemorate World AIDS Day (WAD) 2022, said the campaign will harness the collective energy of Nigerian youth to achieve an HIV-negative generation.

He said that through meaningful engagement with AYP, the campaign will build confidence and encourage young people to take charge of their sexual health to stay HIV negative.

"It is in our power to stop the spread of HIV, but we cannot expect young people to do it alone if they are not equipped with the skills to stay HIV-negative and are ashamed visit health facilities, take medicine, or buy condoms,” he said.

The Gen N Campaign is in partnership with the Maximizing Options to Advance Informed Choice for HIV Prevention (MOSAIC) project supported by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).< /p>

It aims to create a movement fueled by the country's 43.2 million young people aged 15-24 to catalyze the uptake of HIV prevention, treatment and care services by adolescents and young people across the country. Nigeria.

HIV remains a serious health problem in Nigeria, with 41% of new cases occurring among young people aged 15-24.

According to the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), only 43% of young women and 34% of young men aged 15-24 have comprehensive knowledge of HIV.

MOSAIC Project Youth Advisor Adaobi Olisa said the campaign is a promise of hope.

Ms Olisa said the campaign was also timely with the growing number of new HIV infections among adolescents and young people in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Young Nigerians are afraid of HIV, but they are also afraid of being judged by their parents, peers, health care providers and partners, so most of them do not take action needed to protect themselves," she said.

She said that Gen-N provides a unique platform to bring all youth-focused HIV prevention interventions and communication under one roof and to re-energize young people to fight for a free generation. HIV.

USAID, in the statement, said it is proud to support Nigeria's efforts for inclusive approaches to control the HIV epidemic through PEPFAR, especially among our youth.

USAID supports comprehensive services for more than 690,000 people on HIV treatment in 17 states and provides HIV commodities, including testing kits, antiretroviral drugs, and laboratory supplies, to supported facilities across Nigeria.

The Nigerian government launched the Youth Alive and Healthy (YAaH Naija) campaign in September, an innovative intervention that aims to scale up the use of high-impact HIV prevention tools.

Director General of the National AIDS Control Agency (NACA), Gambo Aliyu, said the initiative aims to provide high-impact prevention interventions to vulnerable groups.

Mr. Aliyu said this will be achieved by introducing HIV self-testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among the most vulnerable adolescents and young people.

WAD is commemorated on December 1 each year to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and mourn those who have died from the disease.

The global theme for WAD 2022 is "Equalize" and the national theme is "Equalize to end AI...