HIV Services Strengthened in Nigeria

April 7, 2006—State government officials joined religious leaders and health professionals in Cross River, Nigeria to celebrate the arrival of comprehensive HIV/AIDS services in their community at an April 6 ceremony in Ibom.

In order to provide HIV-positive Nigerians with more effective care, CEDPA and its partners in the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN) project upgraded the Holy Family Catholic Hospital laboratories and trained its medical staff to provide antiretroviral treatment and counseling to adults and children living with HIV/AIDS.

Almost four million people in Nigeria live with HIV/AIDS, yet more than 90 percent of these Nigerians do not have access to the drugs necessary for treatment. No where is the need more keenly felt than in Cross River State, which has the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

At the April 6 ceremony, held on World Health Day, several local organizations gave CEDPA/Nigeria an award to recognize its community mobilization efforts. The network explained that CEDPA’s work in Cross River State enables people living with HIV/AIDS in remote communities to be informed of availability of HIV services through the GHAIN project.

CEDPA/Nigeria and its community partners also launched the Cross River State chapter of the White and Red Ribbon Alliance at the ceremony. The alliance mobilizes women in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.

The GHAIN project, a five-year initiative funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the U.S. Agency for International Development, is led by Family Health International and a coalition of partners including CEDPA.

Because 40 percent of Nigeria’s health services are delivered by religious institutions, GHAIN mobilizes faith-based and community organizations as a strategy to strengthen and expand the delivery of HIV/AIDS services.

To date, CEDPA’s community partners have reached over 500,000 Nigerians with HIV prevention messages through peer education, church sermons and faith-club activities.

In 2003, CEDPA/Nigeria helped form the White-Red Ribbon Alliance in Nigeria. The white and red symbol represents the relationship between safe motherhood and HIV/AIDS prevention. The alliance is a part of the global White Ribbon Alliance, but stresses preventing mother-to-child transmission, voluntary counseling and testing and antiretroviral therapy, as well as safe motherhood practices.

Find out more about the GHAIN project.

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