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Creating awareness on HIV in rural areas in Nigeria

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Creating awareness on HIV in rural areas in Nigeria

By Patrick Egwu…

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is one virus that has caused the death of many people in the world. It is a virus that targets and alters the immune system, increasing the risk and impact of other infections and diseases.

It is a virus that attacks immune cells called CD4 cells, which are a type of T cell. These are white blood cells that move around the body, detecting faults and anomalies in cells as well as infections. When HIV targets and infiltrates these cells, it reduces the body’s ability to combat other diseases.

Without treatment, HIV infection is likely to develop into Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) as the immune system gradually wears down. The life expectancy of a person who carries the HIV virus is now approaching that of a person that tests negative for the virus, as long as they adhere to a combination of medications called Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) on an ongoing basis.

According to scientists, the Chimpanzee version of the Immunodeficiency Virus (called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus or SIV) most likely was transmitted to humans and mutated into HIV when humans hunted these Chimpanzees for meat and came into contact with their infected blood.

For decades, the virus slowly spread across Africa and later into other parts of the world.

There are a great number of people infected with HIV in Nigeria. After South Africa, Nigeria has the largest rate of HIV prevalence in Africa. As of 2014, in Nigeria, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among adults ages 15-49 was 3.17%. The total number of Nigerians living with HIV/AIDS is 2,600,000. Women living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria is up to 1,400,000 while that of children is up to 220,000. Up to 170,000 Nigerians have died of HIV/AIDS. Orphans living with the disease, as a result, are up to 1,200.00.

The first two cases of HIV in Nigeria were detected in 1985. It was reported in 1986 at the International AIDS Conference. About 6 cases were detected in 1987. This prompted the then, Nigerian government to establish National AIDS Advisory Committee (NAAC). Afterwards, the National Expert Advisory Committee on AIDS (NEACA) was established.

Nigeria’s ministry of health made its first attempt to assess the AIDS situation in Nigeria in 1991. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo made HIV prevention, treatment and care one of the primary concerns of his government when he assumed office in 1999 through the creation of National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA).

Similarly, a 3-year HIV/AIDS Emergency Action Plan (HEAP) was also set up by the Obasanjo administration in 2001.

The HIV epidemic in Nigeria is complex and varies widely by region. In some states, the epidemic is more concentrated and driven by high-risk behaviours, while other states have more generalised epidemics that are sustained primarily by multiple sexual partnerships in the general population.

Youth and young adults in Nigeria are particularly vulnerable to HIV with young women at higher risk than young men.

Unfortunately, the HIV epidemic is highly felt in rural areas – where people do not have enough access to health care and information. This calls for more massive campaigns and awareness in the rural areas in order to check the growth of the epidemic.

For example, there are many people in the rural areas who are not aware of the risk factors that contribute to the spread of HIV. Risk factors which include prostitution, high-risk practices among itinerant workers, high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI), clandestine high-risk heterosexual and homosexual practices, international trafficking of women and irregular blood screening.

Read also: Really, who needs medical attention between Buhari and Obasanjo?

If they become aware of these factors, it will help in reducing the growing number of people with the disease. Therefore, credible channels of communication are needed in sensitising people in the rural areas about the disease.

Radio is one productive means of communication through which people in the areas can be reached and made to be aware of HIV. Community radios are mostly used to perform this task. Most community radio stations broadcast using the local language of the people. This makes people more connected with the programmes of the station.

Most of the terms associated with HIV may not be comprehensible to old men and women and even the young ones in the communities. That is why the use of their local language is important.

Researchers and others involved in community engagements have been known to execute successful health campaigns in rural areas with the use of community radio where the language of the people could be used to reach out to them. The great advantage radio has is that it is portable, accessible, durable and affordable. Thus, it guarantees a wide reach.

Billboard is another channel of communication that is productive in creating awareness about HIV. Placing billboards at strategic positions and with understandable images and with a message written in the language of the people or very simplified can go a long way in creating awareness about HIV.

People can easily get the message on how to prevent HIV such as getting tested and knowing your partner’s HIV status, having less risky sex, using condoms, limiting ones number of sexual partners, getting tested and treated for STDs and talking to your health care provider about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) using billboards.

Television is another channel that can be used in creating awareness about HIV with its audio-visual advantages.

Inasmuch as there is predominantly epileptic power supply in rural areas, displaying images of people suffering from the disease and telling people what they need to do in order to prevent the disease are productive with the use of television.

For total elimination of the disease and an end of stigmatization to be achieved, the message of awareness should be carefully designed and taken to the rural areas where a large percent of the population are living. This way, more results will be achieved and perceptions changed.

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