Increased Focus on Sex Promotes Education, Contraceptive Sales on Valentine's Day #IRP13

LAGOS, NIGERIA – Jide Odi, 27, a graduate from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, says Valentine’s Day usually leads to an increase in sexual activity.

“People say Valentine’s Day is a time for couples in a relationship to actually have unlimited sex,” he says. “It is the accepted day for one-time marathon sex. So naturally, it is expected that day the sales of condom and contraceptive will be high.”

But for Odi, Valentine’s Day is not about sex. He says he has no plans for the day.

“I don’t think I should pack all the sex of several days into one day,” he says.

As the world celebrates Valentine’s Day, young Nigerians debate whether people are more sexually active today. Retailers say they see an increase in contraceptive sales for the holiday. Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations are using Valentine’s Day as a platform for sexual and reproductive health education for young people. Although access to condoms has increased, correct and consistent use of condoms remains a challenge.

Between 2005 and 2010, 49 percent of males and 36 percent of females ages 15 to 24 in Nigeria used a condom the last time they had sex with a nonmarital, noncohabiting partner, according to UNICEF.

In 2010, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Society for Family Health, a nongovernmental organization based in Lagos, distributed more than 2 billion male condoms and nearly 900,000 female condoms, according to the Nigeria 2012 Global AIDS Response Country Progress Report.

Precious Iheanacho, 18, says her peers are more inclined to have sex on Valentine’s Day. But she advocates for abstinence.

“I don’t do sex,” she says. “It is wrong to have sex before marriage.”

Iheanacho encourages her peers to at least use protection if they do have sex.

“Sex is something that should wait until you get married so then you can appreciate it,” she says. “But if you cannot control yourself, I think you should be protected.”

But Iheanacho says that young girls have limited knowledge about how they should protect themselves.

“There should be programs geared towards them,” she says. “They don’t know how to protect themselves so they end up committing abortion.”

Samson Opeyemi Oguntona, 28, says he plans to spend this Valentine’s Day with his girlfriend.

“My plan is to go out with my babe,” he says.

But Oguntona says that he is not caught in the web of limiting Valentine’s Day to sexual gratification. Rather, they may go to a fast-food restaurant or a recreational place to discuss issues.

Adeshola Enitan Okesanya, 21, says that she and her boyfriend may celebrate the holiday by attending events in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial city.

“We’ll do normal stuff: talk, kiss or have sex,” she says. “It just comes. It is not that I’m going to plan it.”

Okesanya says the day is not all about sex, attributing people’s misperception of this to a limited awareness of the significance of Valentine’s Day.

“This Valentine’s Day should be about love, care for one another,” she says. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be your boyfriend.”

She says people could instead spend the day distributing gifts to orphanages.

“The day should be about spreading love to others,” she says.

She also doesn’t think that Valentine’s Day contributes to an increase in condom or contraceptive sales, a phenomenon cited by local retailers.

Kelechi Uwozo, a sales representative at a mini-mart located in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos state, says that condom sales rise every year on Valentine’s Day.

“Condom sales sometimes move,” Uwozo says. “It is not something you sell regularly. If I sell 10 normally, that day I may sell 40.”

Bose Adedeji, a sales representative at a pharmaceutical store in Ogba, a small community in Lagos, agrees with Uwozo on the increase in condom sales on Valentine’s Day. But she says that customers buy more female contraceptives than condoms on Feb. 14 and the day after.

Adedeji points at a stack of female contraceptives on a shelf in the store.

“Daily pill or morning-after pill for women is what normally move,” she says. “But for condom, it moves all the time.”

Funke Otaru, a program assistant at the Abuja office of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an international nongovernmental organization, says that the increase in condom sales on Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean that young people are actually using them.

“If you say condom use increases,” she says, “you actually do not follow them to their houses to know if they use those condoms. They could be picking those condoms from wherever they are and not using them.”

Precious-Promise Ilalokhoin, a youth counselor specializing in teenage-parent relationships, says there’s a misperception that many young people lose their virginity on Valentine’s Day. But she says that an increase in condom sales during the holiday doesn’t mean more people have sex for the first time that day.

To educate young people about their sexual and reproductive health, nongovernmental organizations hold sensitization programs for young people on Valentine’s Day.

Otaru says that the AIDS Healthcare Foundation organizes an annual event to mark the holiday. But this year, it centered the event around International Condom Day.

“Our event is geared towards the International Condoms Day, which is the 13 th, a day before the Valentine’s Day,” Otaru says. “But nevertheless, we have activities that will span through that week.”

Activities include voluntary HIV counseling and testing at mobile units stationed in the suburbs of Abuja, the national capital. Dancing will also provide entertainment while volunteers distribute educational materials and free condoms to participants.

“We are going to be training them how to use condom and all of that,” Otaru says.

Meanwhile, Ilalokhoin convenes more than 200 students at an annual seminar called “Sweeter than Sex” every Feb. 13.

“The Sweeter than Sex is a pre-Valentine event where we want to educate teenagers about sexual health, emotion, their body – everything that affect young people,” she says.

The program encourages young people to abstain from premarital sex while exploring friendship, building self-esteem and aiming for self-actualization – which are all sweeter than sex, she says.

“We have been running it for more than five years now,” Ilalokhoin says.

Partners have included organizations such as Human Development Initiatives and Nigerian Red Cross as well as the Lagos State Ministry of Health.

Emmanuel Olaito, a senior program officer for the HIV prevention program at Society for Family Health, says that it’s collaborating with smaller nongovernmental organizations to carry out mobile HIV testing as well as distribute free condoms on Valentine’s Day.

“Basically, the focus of all our program is the social marketing of condoms,” he says.

Olaito says that condom distribution underlies all of the organization’s programs in order to promote positive sexual behavior.

Culturally, young people didn’t used to openly talk about sex or access condoms, Otaru says. But this is changing.

“Access to condom has increased,” she says. “It is no longer a cultural thing.”

Otaru attributes this to outreach and interventions carried out by nongovernmental organizations.

“I think that a lot of people are assertive and a lot of people are having good access to condoms,” she says. “We actually have condom dispenser installed in some of the clubs, hotels where people can access them freely.”

Still, Otaru says that young people need to learn how to negotiate condom use with their partners.

“It is very necessary that you negotiate with your partner in using a condom because it is going to actually save you a lot,” she says. “You should use a condom to protect yourself. If you are not married and you want to engage in sexual activity, then please protect yourself. Protection goes a long way.”

Olaito says that young people need to become aware of their sexual needs, which vary depending on their sexual orientation, their background and their environment.

“Our sexual needs are different,” he says.

Young people’s awareness of their sexual needs enables them to learn about the different options available to them to protect themselves.

“We should be aware of the options available to us as regards preventing HIV and living a sexually responsible life,” Olaito says. “Stick to the option that fits into your lifestyle.”

Ilalokhoin agrees on the need for young people to educate themselves about topics such as sexually transmitted diseases.

“There is a lot of stories about how good condoms are in preventing STDs,” she says. “But I’m yet to see a report that says condom is 100-percent perfect,” Ilalokhoin says.

She also says that young people lack the time to learn how to properly use a condom.

“Before you can get 98-percent safety in condom,” she says, “they say you have to use it correctly and consistently. It means you have to wear it correctly. You have to make sure it does not burst during sexual intercourse, and a recent report says you have to change it after each ejaculation. How many teenagers have the time to do that?”

One of Society for Family Health and the Federal Ministry of Health’s strategies to prevent new HIV infections in Nigeria is to ensure that at least 80 percent of sexually active men and women use condoms consistently and correctly with nonregular partners by 2015, according to the Nigeria 2012 Global AIDS Response Country Progress Report.

Meanwhile, Ilalokhoin advises young people to focus more on activities that will help them to achieve self-realization, such as building strong friendships, rather than having sex.

“There are certain things that if you don’t discover in life, you’ll not be happy,” she says. “And sex cannot do that for you.”



Reporting on health and development in Nigeria with a grant from the International Reporting Project in Washington, D.C. http://internationalreportingproject.org.

Culled from Global Press Institute: http://globalpressinstitute.org/africa/nigeria/increased-focus-sex-promotes-education-contraceptive-sales-valentines-day/page/0/0

No woman should lose her life, giving life… #IRP13

Mrs. Bello has been bleeding since. End of story.

Let's go back to the beginning.

A true-life story is told about a pregnant woman (whom I'll refer to as Mrs. Bello) who did not realize her pregnancy has gone past nine months. It was not until her neighbour offered to introduce her to a local nurse that she realized she was long overdue for labour.

Mrs. Bello is an impoverished petty trader with no adequate finances to access basic medical services.

Nurse T offered to induce labour, using a common method to force the baby out. A few injections. Nothing happened.

Now, everyone was worried: Mrs Bello and her husband, the woman who recommended the nurse, Nurse T.

A scan result shows the foetus (fetus) has changed position. In a lame man's language, he is now sitting down instead of being in the usual upside-down position, perhaps wondering why he is still in his mother's womb.

After a few days, Nurse T offered to take Mrs. Bello to a cheap hospital.

Mr. Bello had to raise funds quickly. But he was unable to raise the amount the hospital requested.

The doctor admitted Mrs. Bello after a series of negotiations. He slashed the hospital bill in half so that they can be attended to--a favor the organization and all concerned would later regret.

No one remembered to ask how qualified this doctor was.

Armed with his instruments, the doctor started operating on Mrs. Bello. But something went wrong. The fetus did not make it out alive. The mother bled. The bleeding did not stop even after the doctor and nurses cleaned her up.

Mrs. Bello's husband goes berserk. He reports the case to the nearest police station. Everyone trades blame. The report of the doctor ranks superior to others. He says the complications were caused by the induction Nurse T used on Mrs. Bello. In a bizarre move, the policemen assigned to the case arrest the neighbour who first recommended the first nurse to Mrs. Bello.

After being released on bail, the woman is asked to pay for all the medical expenses incurred by Mrs. Bello, who just lost her child at birth.

Thankfully, the mother of four is still alive, although in a critical condition.

This is what poverty and lack of information expose pregnant women to every day in this part of the world.

Experts say Nigeria's maternal and child health statistics are some of the worst in the world. As of the end of 2012, the maternal mortality ratio was placed at 1,120 per 100,000 live births.

No woman should lose her life in giving life. No child should lose his or her life at birth!

I agree with Dr. Jimmy Arigbabuwo, who  has said:

"If a pregnant woman undergoes good ante-natal programme, doctors would have identified if her baby will develop complications at birth and they can refer her to the appropriate quarters. We must ensure that no pregnancy is wasted."

Dr. Jimmy Arigbabuwo is the Chairman (Lagos state) of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria. He is very optimistic that the alarming rate of incessant maternal and child mortality rate can be curbed with the right medical equipments.

However, what's the use of having a world-class medical facility without well-trained medical practitioners? The best hands, found in government-funded hospitals, are checking out of the country for greener pastures, a new report reveals. They are not happy with the working conditions in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, we are faced with the challenges of poor medical services, lack of skills and some people's unwillingness even to access the services that are available.

The executive director of UNFPA, Babatunde Osotimehin recently tweeted that African leaders have agreed to intensify the fight against maternal death. But how much of these efforts and resources will trickle down to the likes of Mrs. Bello at the bottom of the pyramid?

Government and politicians can change things
Perhaps, while we work at keeping the government leaders accountable, we can also tackle this challenge at different levels.

For example, government leaders at the state and local level can emulate Mr. Daniel Asuquo, who recently committed to financing the treatment of patients in his constituency. Mr. Asuquo is a member of the House of Representative. He represents Akamkpa-Biase Federal Constituency of Cross River State.

But his is an annual event. Maybe others can make such contributions more frequently? Imagine what free monthly antenatal care would do for this generation! Women like Mrs Bello deserve access to such free medical services.

Collaboration is key
NGOs and other stakeholders can collaborate to sponsor medical practitioners on trainings that would improve their skills. An example can be seen in what Kwara State government and UNICEF did recently.

The Punch newspaper reports that in an effort to reduce maternal-child mortality, UNICEF spent about N7m for training and mobilisation of health workers across the 16 LGAs, while the state government spent about N8m. The National Primary Health Care Development Agency supplied the consumables during the Pregnant Women and Child Week that was inaugurated in the state.

Integrity at the clinic
Health care providers in Nigeria need to step up. They should stop toying with the lives of their patients. If they are not qualified to take on a medical case, they should be honest enough to say so and transfer the case to more qualified doctors. They should also seek to improve the quality of paediatric and maternal care offered in their clinics and hospitals. Nurses should desist from corrupt practices, such as hoarding a patient's medications for their own selfish reasons. 

Personal responsibility
The rest of us must take personal responsibility. Nothing will change if no one changes anything. Or what do you think?

This story was first published on Ynaija.com

About the author: Jennifer Ehidiamen is a Senior Reporter and Media Trainer at Global Press Institute (GPI). She is reporting on health and development in Nigeria with a grant from the International Reporting Project in Washington, D.C http://internationalreportingproject.org.

Amazing-ness

Amazing experience! Amazing moments! Amazing people make amazing moments. You can find yours anywhere- most times in the least expected places and least expected times. At the bus stop. At the airport. In a coffee shop. The experience leaves a smile on your face. They come in different shades.

Here is an example:

You are on your way home one evening, and by some divine appointment find yourself standing at the bus-stop with a total stranger. You both find a common ground to share thoughts about current trends and all. You talk about specifics or everything. And you realize, during that short period it is like you both knew each other from Adam. Many times you consciously stop yourself from asking- "have we met before?"

The conversation is totally amazing!

Then you both have to part ways at some point in your journey. His/Her bus arrives.

You say, "It was so nice to meet you..." or "it was great chatting with you...thanks for the insightful thoughts..." adding other good wishes you might have for him or her.

You don't even have to make physical contacts- no handshakes, no hugs. But still the connection is strong. There is a God.

After the person departs you realize, oh! I didn't even collect his/her phone number, or facebook ID, or Twitter handle.

There is no need. Such amazing experience is meant for that moment of amazing-ness. Social networks cannot extend the connection that was only meant to last for the moment.

You might never meet again. But now you have learned the art of being kind to everyone you meet.

Be thankful! Keep the smile on your face. Pass it on.

Have a terrific week!

Mentors and Protégés : Who is inspiring you(th)??

I had a terrific time interviewing a young lady yesterday, as part of a valentine story I'm currently writing for GPI @pressinstitute.

One of the things that strikes me most about her story (not related to what I'm reporting on) is that she recognizes the impact different individuals made (and are still making) in her life.

Most of these people's impacts is from a distance, she says. Some of them she has never met. But listening to their stories, watching their life, reading their books etc. helped her get started and shaped her vision. Today, this young lady is sure making impact in the lives of others! Talk about the power of positive rippling influence!

I took two things away from her:

1. Live your life so positively in a way that can inspire and impact others around you.

2. Sometimes, it is not about someone coming to take you by the hand and leading you. Take note of good examples, those living examples and emulate! This does not mean copying and living in the shadow. It means allowing their stories give you hope and inspire you to get started and stay strong!

Who is inspiring you?

What is that saying again? It takes a village to raise a child!

I agree!

It takes one, two, or more inspiring lives to shape a youth!

To blaze the trail, you must choose not to tail!

Keep pushing.

Celebrating a rare gem @dayoisrael #HappyBirthday

Some have asked, is he a pastor, youth advocate or a politician? At one point me too was confused. But i figure you are just a bundle of talent with well nurtured skills. Also an epitome of assertiveness. A voracious reader. A leader.

I bless God for the day I found you via Google some seven years ago, brother!! I was a somewhat confused girl, hungry for a change.  Your passion and story inspired me to find my path and today my story is different for good. God used you and your team (GAAVOHCR).

Asiwaju Dayo-Oluwashindara Israel  (Asiwaju Dayo Israel II) thank you for living your life so positively for other young people to emulate! Thank you for giving me, a stranger, an opportunity to be part of that youth camp in Ota! Thank you for always honoring God as your source. Thank you for not tiptoeing through life.

May God increase you. May you never be left stranded. May your light continue to shine brighter and brighter until the perfect day! May your lifestyle be a sweet smelling aroma unto God. May you never forsake His ways.

May God's face continue to shine upon you. May you live love and live long. Your pocket will not run dry ni agbara Jesu!

May God continue to be your source. Even when you stumble, may God always show up to rescue you. May you never grief Him.

Amen.

You sir, are a blessing to this generation!

Happy Birthday Temidayo Abdulai Israel!!

Grow in grace, great grace!!

The best is yet to come ni agbara Olorun!


The poem I wrote after I met Dayo and his team in 2004/2005:
i surrender! show me a way, a channel,
a route,
through which I could reachout to this
hurting world
and wipe out that tears rolling down her
cheeks.

I know, I know
I must tread only on that part I know well
else I cramp my style with stinking
gibberish.

My wallet is flat tonight
please don't count on that
Still this urge to belong
an undiluted desire to serve
yearns so loudly I can hold back no more

I surrender...

in total submission my heart cry
"use me lover of my soul"
to be a helping hand in my society
to learn to give without asking for anything
in return
to be able to influence others into aiming
for the best
never to try playing god over my peers
to you my king I obediently surrender
(c)Jennifer Ehidiamen


Pictures taken during President Obama's Meeting with Young African Leaders 2010.

HEALTH: Young HIV positive Nigerians Seek Education, Rights

LAGOS, NIGERIA – When Aminat Alli-Agboola, 33, first found out she was HIV-positive in 2004, she was too sick to react to the news.

“I was very ill,” she says. “There was nothing I could do but pray to survive.”

At the time, she attended Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, a city on the southwest coast of Nigeria.

Unsure how she contracted the virus, she says that it could have been through having unprotected sex with an infected partner or by sharing unsterilized, sharp objects, like hair clippers or razor blades.

Alli-Agboola began antiretroviral drug therapy in 2005. She also joined an anti-AIDS club at her college, formed by HOPE worldwide, an international charity. The club informed students about HIV and reproductive health, and Alli-Agboola says she made herself an expert.

She says that it wouldn’t have amounted to anything without her family’s support.

“Support from family revived me,” she says. “For me, I was at the stage of dying.”

But beyond her family, the stigma attached to HIV was strong. Alli-Agboola says she did not know that one day she would be married with two children. Her husband and children are not infected with HIV.

Alli-Agboola says her HIV status was the first thing she revealed to her future husband when he asked her out on a date. She says her husband is informed about the virus and supportive.

“He does not see it as a hindrance to our relationship,” she says.

Alli-Agboola also didn’t think she would be working in an organization and interacting with others without discrimination, she says. But she now works with the Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS, which implements workplace and community-based HIV and AIDS prevention education, care and support programs.

She also runs Positive Youth Initiative of Nigeria, a project she launched in 2005 that provides psycho-social support for young people living with HIV.

But to other HIV-positive youths in Nigeria, Alli-Agboola’s happy ending, with a supportive family, college education and good job, may seem far from reach.

Despite increased awareness about HIV and AIDS, stigmatization in families and communities remains strong. Youths living with HIV cite discrimination when it comes to education and employment. They are working through nongovernmental organizations with the government to pass the anti-discrimination bill currently under consideration in the National Assembly to protect the rights of people with HIV and AIDS.

More than 4 percent of Nigerians have HIV, ranking it third among the countries with the highest HIV and AIDS burden in the world after India and South Africa, according to the 2012 Global AIDS Response Country Progress Report. But new infections in the country decreased by 6.1 percent from 2008 to 2010 and by 2.7 percent in 2011.

But for people living with HIV, the stigma has been strong.

Gloria Asuquo, 24, has lived with HIV for 14 years.

“I tested positive in 1999, when I was about 12 years old,” she says. “I contracted HIV through blood transfusion. Each time people come out to say HIV is through sex, I come out to say, no, it is not only through sex. You can still get it in so many ways.”

Asuquo’s parents initially hid her status from her when she was first diagnosed at the hospital.

“They hid it from me,” she says. “They didn’t want me to know I was HIV-positive.”

Her father revealed her status to her a few months later.

“He started out by asking what I would do if my friend was HIV-positive,” she says.

Asuquo says she replied that she would not be friends with the person. A few days later, he asked her again, and she gave the same reply. Then, he told her that she was HIV-positive.

Asuquo says she did not understand the impact of the revelation. There was no accurate HIV awareness, just stigma.

“Back in 1999, anybody that looked sickly was called ‘AIDS-carrier,’” Asuquo says. “Anytime we are talking as kids, we always had negative perception about the issue.”

Asuquo felt her first stigmatization when the reverend at her church advised her parents to throw the 12-year-old out of the house so she didn’t infect her family. He told them to send her to a hospice in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

“He went as far as showing my family a place in Wuse, an area in Abuja where people are abandoned to die,” she says.

Although Asuquo’s father refused the reverend’s advice, her mother favored it, leading to frequent fights. They finally agreed to create a separate, quarantined room for her in their house.

Asuquo ran away to the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Nigeria’s coordinating agency that oversees all efforts to combat HIV and AIDS.

“I ran to them and started crying,” she says. “They followed me back to my house and had discussion with my parents.”

When the situation didn’t improve, she ran away for three years, sleeping on the streets. But she returned home when a university lecturer told her about access to antiretroviral drugs.

“I was the first person in Nigeria they tested ARV drugs on,” Asuquo says.

Many young people in Nigeria are no longer oblivious about HIV, thanks to an increase in HIV awareness programs by nongovernmental organizations and media campaigns, Asuquo says.

HIV prevalence among young people ages 15 to 24 has shown a consistent decline from 6 percent in 2001, plateauing at 4.3 percent in 2005 and 4.2 percent in 2010, according to Nigeria’s 2012 Global AIDS Response Country Progress Report.

Many support groups have also sprouted throughout the years. Asuquo belongs to one for young people living with HIV called Association of Positive Youth in Nigeria. But she says the group doesn’t provide activities for education or support.

Alli-Agboola says funding is a challenge for some nongovernmental organizations and support groups working with HIV and AIDS.

“Why most organizations are redundant is because of the economic recess,” she says.

Although awareness has improved, stigma still exists.

Olajumoke, 25, declined to publish her family members’ last names because they have not told their extended family or friends that her 13-year-old cousin has HIV in order to shield him from stigma.

Her cousin, Enitan, was diagnosed with HIV six years ago. Doctors believe he contracted it through mother-to-child transmission. Enitan’s mother died from an AIDS-related illness in 2012.

“We thought it was a lie because nobody wanted to believe,” Olajumoke says.

He lives with his grandmother, Rashidat, who takes him for his treatment and medical checkups every two months. Enitan also attends lectures about HIV and AIDS infections. But no one has explained the full implication of what it means to be HIV-positive.

“We will eventually tell him, before he starts dating and all those stuff,” Olajumoke says. “But not now.”

Dr. Richard Ademola Adebayo, a psychiatrist consultant and clinical psychologist at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba, says Enitan should know more.

“It is wrong,” Adebayo said during a phone interview. “The boy should be brought for counseling so that he can be aware of his condition. If he does not know, he can transmit it to others. He can indulge in other risky behavior. He should be aware. He is not too young to know.”

Beyond the family, people living with HIV also face discrimination in society when applying for education and employment.

Asuquo says that most of her peers living with HIV don’t have a job.

“The moment you come out on air to say you are positive and go look for job, they may deny you,” she says. “And coming to the area of school, they have denied so many people admission from school because of their status.”

Asuquo says she was denied admission to a private university after provisional acceptance because of her HIV status.

“I was denied admission into [a private] university,” she says. “I met all the requirement. But after doing a HIV test, they said they were sorry, they can’t give me admission because of my HIV status.”

Asuquo says the news upset her.

“You can imagine as a young person how devastated that is,” she says. “I don’t have right to work. I don’t have right to freedom. In that case, young people will not like coming out to say this is what they are.”

Most private institutions require newly admitted students to take an HIV test, she says.

Staff at one private institution, Bells University of Technology, which is not the school Asuquo applied to, said that it didn’t discriminate against students living with HIV. Dr. Emmanuel Daramola, a member of the university’s medical staff, says that students offered provisional admission undergo medical tests to ensure they are medically fit. But an HIV test is not one of them.

Asuquo plans to further her studies for biochemistry at a public university. She hopes to get a scholarship opportunity that will enable her pursue her dreams.

“The government should do something to protect the right of the youths,” Asuquo says.

Nigeria’s National Assembly is considering an HIV and AIDS anti-discrimination bill. One section would make it an offense for institutions to deny students admission based on their HIV status, says Kikelomo Taiwo, 25, who manages a campaign by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations working together to ensure the bill is passed into law.

Taiwo is a youth advocate with Education as a Vaccine Against AIDS, one of the lead nongovernmental organizations working with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS on the project. He says they joined the process in 2009 during a public hearing on the bill held by the House Committee on HIV/AIDS.

Nongovernmental organizations noted at the hearing that the bill focused only on stigma and discrimination in the workplace. They advocated for it to include more youth issues, like education.

“If we are going to have a bill on stigma and discrimination that will protect this key population, then it shouldn’t be focused on stigma and discrimination in the workplace alone,” Taiwo says.

Taiwo says the bill is just the first step.

“If we pass the bill into law, it doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to eradicate stigma and discrimination,” Taiwo says. “It only shows that our government is committed to the issues that affect the people.”

Taiwo suggests that after the bill is passed, follow-up action includes coming up with programs to target people in the community, educate them about the need to love and care for people living with HIV, and also tell them that there is a law that seeks to protect people living with HIV.

The bill is currently at the final stage, the third reading, in the House of Representatives. The Senate is also expected to pass the bill.

“The anti-stigma bill is yet to be passed,” says an official at the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, who declined to be identified for job security reasons. “People cannot come forward freely and conduct HIV test because they are afraid of being stigmatized. Those that have HIV cannot come forward and access their medication freely because they are afraid of who will see them. Stigma is a big issue.”

He says the government has geared a lot of programs toward combating HIV and AIDS in Nigeria. For example, the National HIV Vaccine Plan, launched in September 2012, aims to ensure Nigeria has quality and quantitative research to plan on how to combat HIV.

But most HIV programs target people in urban areas, ignoring rural areas, he says.

Alli-Agboola encourages people to take initiative by getting tested in order to know their HIV status.

“Some people say what I do not know won’t kill me, but it is better to know so that you can care and learn to live fine,” she says. “The people who care about you will support you.”

Asuquo advises young people not to allow anyone to look down on them or stop them from achieving their dreams.

“HIV does not kill,” she says. “What kills is the mindset of fear and self-stigma.”



Source: GPI: http://globalpressinstitute.org/africa/nigeria/young-hiv-positive-nigerians-seek-education-rights/page/0/0

About the reporter:

Jennifer Ehidiamen is a Senior Reporter and Media Trainer at Global Press Institute (GPI). She is reporting on health and development in Nigeria with a grant from the International Reporting Project in Washington, D.C.

http://internationalreportingproject.org. 

Presentation 2.0: Advancing media career in 2013

How to advance media career in 2013 is all about moving from point A to point B or Point A to point C. To move from where we are and move forward, we must explore these three areas:

1. Trainings and FellowshipsIn my final year thesis that was focused on the factors that influences Journalist's productivity, one of the findings in the research was journalist's interest in embracing training opportunities. Most journalists who were surveyed in the Vanguard and the Nation newspaper said training opportunity is a factor that influences them but admitted that most of the trainings they have been to are mostly self-sponsored. The management rarely provide training opportunities that can advance their career. However, as journalists we must not limit ourselves to the limited (or unavailable) training opportunities. If we really want to move ahead in our media career then we must be ready to maximize every training opportunities available. Popular online resource where we can find training and fellowship opportunities include: www.ijnet.org; www.internationalreportingproject.org etc. Trainings and fellowships help us learn, grow and be better equipped to do our jobs better.

2. Embrace the New MediaThe new media is changing the face of journalism. But how many of us here are maximizing the tools to advance our media career? A lot of people I know who are active on social media and very proactive in reproducing news contents from the news that professional journalists publish have no prior training in journalism. Yet, they are the ones making the best of the new media tools. What are professional journalists doing? There are different tools we must be willing to embrace in order to become more visible online. Some of the tools I use mostly are: Twitter, FaceBook, GooglePlus, Blogger, LinkedIn etc. Each of these tools have a strong way of helping us have a more impactful online presence. We must not settle for just creating news contents for our traditional media alone. We each can own a website or create a free account on Blogger or Wordpress and use them as channels to amplify our voices on issues we are passionate about. The more people know that you are actually a journalist and not just another blogger, the more they are likely to visit your blog to read original and accurate reports you publish. We can use the new media to engage others, network, collaborate and advance our career.


3. Profile: Tell your story rightJournalists are very good story tellers. We do a very good job telling the stories of others but not our story. The other day my former classmate was having a challenge in filling a space in an application form that required her to tell her story. The space required over 700 words. But all she had was some 390 words or so. I was perplexed after I read through the profile. "You are more than this," I said to her. I could not figure out if she was trying to be modest or she was just too timid to tell her story. But she eventually revamped her profile, adding more relevant information that she had initially left out. As journalists we need to have an audacious voice in sharing our experiences with others. Our profile should speak for us, online and offline. How is your current LinkedIn page, is it up to date? Is the picture you used on point? People are interested in learning about where we have been and why we do what we do. Without an up-to-date profile that accurately tell of our work, they cannot learn this. Don't get me wrong, this is not same as blowing our own trumpet. I think we are each shortchanging ourselves from possible opportunities that might come knocking if there is nothing about our story that draws those opportunities on.

These three points have not exhausted how we can advance our career this year. But like uncle Lekan said at the beginning of his presentation, it is important for us to do a reflective thinking that will help us figure out where we are at the moment, where we want to get to and how we can get there, i.e. the things we need to do. And by God's grace, we'll get there.


Thank you.

[A recap of the presentation shared during JFC Fellowship. It was an interesting time of sharing and learning!]