Positive Living in Nigeria

March 21, 2007—More than 200 community leaders marched through the streets of Abuja, Nigeria, in support of “Positive Living” for all Nigerians.

With banners held high, these Muslim and Christian leaders joined hands to raise awareness about the need to “harness the power of the community for care and support” of the roughly four million Nigerians living with HIV and AIDS.

The March 21 walk and rally was held in conjunction with the formal launch of the Positive Living project.

The project expands community-based HIV/AIDS services and builds the capacity of local organizations to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS, their families and communities.

Funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Positive Living is led by CEDPA in conjunction with key partners including the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and the Anglican Communion in Nigeria.

U.S. Ambassador John Campbell joined representatives from Nigerian government agencies at the Positive Living launch.

Positive Living was formally launched March 21 in Abuja with speakers including U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell and representatives of Nigerian government agencies working to address AIDS. The hundreds of participants included advocates, technical specialists and community agencies confronting AIDS in Nigeria.

Ambassador Campbell noted that Positive Living was “a milestone in the growing partnership between Nigerian governments at all levels, the American Government, and Nigerian and American non-governmental organizations in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

Among the many attendees was Bernadette Ughwovwan, a new volunteer under the Positive Living project.

As a nurse and counselor, Bernadette has dedicated herself to fighting AIDS through the Nigeria Chapter of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAAN). Now, through the Positive Living project, she is building the skills of many more outreach workers to extend HIV/AIDS information, care and support into hard-to-reach communities.

To improve her skills, Bernadette participated in a series of training sessions held over the past several months.

Bernadette Ughwovwan is one of the Positive Living master AIDS trainers who will train many more volunteers.

She is now one of 27 new master AIDS trainers under the project, who have in turn trained more than 140 people. Those people are empowering hundreds of volunteer health and outreach workers throughout Nigeria.

The volunteers fan out to sites like the Wuse Garage in Abuja, seeking to reach commuting workers who do not regularly access more formal health services. There they have educated passersby about HIV transmission and treatment of AIDS, battling many myths.

Bernadette says that today many Nigerians have heard about AIDS but they have many misconceptions. “Many rely on traditional treatments and herbs to treat AIDS," she says, and do not know that medical interventions exist.

Positive Living volunteers are also visiting families throughout Nigeria to improve home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

In addition to providing information, Bernadette sees her role as providing hope. “We tell them it is not like before when there was no hope,” she says. Now with access to anti-retroviral therapy and health care “you can have so many years to live,” she says.

It is through newly trained leaders like Bernadette that "Positive Living" can become a reality for many more Nigerians.

Find out more about the Positive Living project.

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