Leveraging community leadership to end AIDS in Nigeria
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In the run-up to World AIDS Day on December 1, 2023, the global theme of “Community Led” has been adopted, and in Nigeria it has been established as “Community Leadership to End AIDS by 2030”. It reflects the country’s recognition of the importance and critical role of local communities. Provide leadership to advance the much-needed goals and objectives to eliminate HIV/AIDS by 2030.
Communities are the people living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV who are at the forefront of progress in the HIV response and are committed to supporting donor partners, governments, and public health. We work with systems and other social institutions to ensure the success and sustainability of global infectious disease control efforts. HIV.
Communities are working with broader civil society to bring about change, particularly those with limited access to modern health services, access limited by barriers of inequality and experiences of prejudice and discrimination. It plays an important role in areas that are difficult to access. HIV/TB and related health service utilization.
In Nigeria, community-led interventions are often led by the Nigeria Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, NEPWHAN, the Nigeria Association of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, ASWHAN, the Positive Youth Association, APYIN, and the International Community of Women. We work with HIV, West Africa (ICW-WA) and others to support the implementation of global and national strategies in the fight against HIV.
The Strategic Investment Framework on HIV, published in 2011, identified community response as a “key enabler” of service delivery, while the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2015 identified community response as a “key enabler” of service delivery. To achieve the bold HIV treatment and prevention goals set for , community mobilization and investment in services will need to more than triple.
According to Global Fund statistics, in 2020, community organizations in Nigeria provided HIV testing and counseling services to more than 1 million people, and these organizations distributed more than 5.5 million condoms and reached thousands of people living with HIV. Provided support to people.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Nigeria demonstrated that putting people at the center of the AIDS response can help advance HIV service delivery.
Despite disruptions to HIV services in many countries, PEPFAR-supported HIV programs in Nigeria have experienced significant growth and exceeded some targets due to community engagement. To ensure uninterrupted delivery of HIV services, a package of people-centred services was designed and implemented, drawing on existing community network mechanisms.
There are also several examples of communities promoting or leading the delivery of innovative services for people living with HIV.
This initiative aims to eliminate mother-child bonding in the context of the southeastern region of Anambra and Ebonyi states in Nigeria, where NEPWHAN is implementing the community component of the Global Fund’s NAHI (National Aligned HIV/AIDS Initiative) grant. It has been successful. Transmission (MTCT) in these two conditions with heavy vertical transmission burden.
NEPWHAN has instituted rigorous testing protocols to ensure that HIV testing is a standard component of antenatal care and an integral part of the antenatal care of pregnant women. As a result, in Anambra State he was able to achieve an impressive PMTCT 1 coverage rate of over 80% in 2022.
Achieving this remarkable success rate can be attributed to several factors, including comprehensive testing protocols, free maternal and child health initiatives in partnership with state governments, community support programs through Mentor Mothers, and women empowerment programs.
In Ebonyi State, Mentor Mothers’ outreach efforts have also significantly reduced vertical transmission of HIV over the past three years. Through their efforts, 12 of her patients who initially refused to accept their HIV status at Igboko General Hospital and Erunwobu General Hospital eventually accepted treatment and achieved viral suppression. Did. Both were led by communities of people living with HIV (PLWH).
It would also be good to mention the work of the community “iMonitor +” app for the HIV/AIDS community. This is a new digital approach to community engagement and empowerment of PLWH in Nigeria. The app provides a platform for the community to report abuse and rights violations, information about service centers, and investigations to track activity within the community.
The PLHIV community in the country has clearly demonstrated that they are not only beneficiaries of services, but also contributing and leading the fight against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
However, barriers to community leadership roles exist and need to be removed. Inequalities in community leadership are recognized as impediments to role performance, with attention to diminished resources, capacity constraints, and persistent human rights violations, as well as structural barriers in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria. These are some of the barriers.
Communities provide leadership, but they need our support to overcome these challenges. Engaging and empowering diverse communities in a large country like Nigeria requires intentional efforts to build strong relationships, continually learn, adapt to changing circumstances, and celebrate progressive achievements. It takes effort.
Similarly, as Nigeria strives to achieve the 95-95-95 goals, community-led efforts supported by global donors such as PEPFAR, the Global Fund, UNAIDS, governments and other partners are It is an essential element of Nigeria’s HIV response in reducing the number of infected people. Eliminate infectious diseases and improve the lives of people affected by the virus.
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) guides and inspires the world to achieve our shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
UNAIDS brings together the efforts of 11 United Nations agencies: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank, towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. We work closely with global and national partners. It is part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Zeken is UNAIDS Country Director for Nigeria.
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Source: guardian.ng