SENSITIZATION ON HIV/AIDS TO BE INCORPORATED IN RE-BRANDING PROJECT
As the ongoing rebranding drive of the Nigeria's Ministry of Information and Communications gathers momentum the Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili has stated her resolve to include HIV/AIDS messages in the Re-branding Nigeria Project.
Prof. Akunyili made this known on Thursday, 25th of June, 2009 when she received a delegation from the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) led by its Director- General, Prof. John Idoko in Abuja.
The Minister maintained that the Information Ministry will continue to support NACA activities through its Federal Information Centres spread across the nation by producing Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials on HIV/AIDS for the enlightenment of the people in the communities.
Prof. Akunyili advised Nigerians not to live a careless life since HIV/AIDS has no cure but was very optimistic that the cure will soon be found. According to her, “Years back, there was no cure for Tuberculosis and Leprosy, but today, we have cure for these diseases”.
The Information Minister identified capacity building as being critical to every sector but advised on the need to truthfully and correctly quote statistics and figures on critical issues like HIV/AIDS.
Prof. Akunyili, while promising to improve access to Testing Centres, advised women to be very vigilant having learnt that of the 3 Million Nigerians infected by HIV/AIDS, 60% are women.
The Minister, who promised to provide support for NACA through the use of the Radio, Television and GSM, also tasked the Agency on the need to step up its sensitization programme because public enlightenment is a continuous process.
Prof. Akunyili explained that the 7-point Agenda of the present Administration is geared towards improving the lives of the people of Nigeria.
Earlier in his remarks, The Director- General of the National Agency For the Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof. John Idoko stated that about 3 Million Nigerians are already infected with HIV/AIDS through sexual transmission.
Prof. Idoko explained that to that effect, NACA has identified some strategies amongst which are; the provision of access to the communities, scaling up of prevention mechanism, monitoring and evaluation of response, all to elicit behavioural change.
The Agency’s Director –General stated the need for the information sector to mainstream HIV/AIDS into their community mobilization effort.
Prof. Idoko, who appealed for funding support from the Information Ministry, also mentioned the need for improved reporting and documentation on HIV/AIDS activities.
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