Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 10/13/2005

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CONTENT:

1 - NIGERIA: HIV testing campaign draws poor response

1 - NIGERIA: HIV testing campaign draws poor response

LAGOS, 13 October (PLUSNEWS) - Motivating people in Lagos, Nigeria's economic

capital, to be tested for HIV/AIDS has been an uphill battle, despite widespread

campaigns.

In Ifako-Ijaye, a heavily populated suburb, the local voluntary testing and

counselling (VCT) centre has clients waiting for their tests, but the response

has been nowhere near what the officials implementing the 'Know Your HIV Status'

project were hoping for.

" Despite all the strategies we have adopted, the number of people that have come

forward for testing so far is disappointingly low, " said Wunmi Sina-Falana,

project team coordinator of Centre for Health, Education and Development

Communication (CHEDCOM), a Lagos-based NGO.

CHEDCOM is running the campaign in the Lagos and Ogun states of southwest

Nigeria, with support from the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA)

Fewer than 500 people were tested at the Ifako-Ijaye centre between February and

September 2005, despite initial projections of attracting 200 people per month.

CHEDCOM found that 15 percent of the estimated 500 clients were HIV positive.

Around 4 million Nigerians are living with HIV/AIDS, giving the country one of

the top three HIV prevalence rates in the world, along with India and South

Africa.

Sina-Falana admitted that although extensive advocacy efforts encouraging people

to know their status were taking place, not much success had been achieved.

" We have embarked on print and broadcast media campaigns, distributed more than

10,000 flyers and information booklets and we have banners all over the place,

but we are not encouraged by the turnout so far, " she said.

Although the centre receives many telephone enquiries about HIV testing from all

over the country, only a fraction of the callers show up to take the test. Some

decline even after pre-test counselling, with the excuse that they cannot afford

the 500 naira (US $3.50) it costs.

According to Sina-Falana, the high levels of stigma and discrimination against

people living with HIV/AIDS, and the poverty levels in the country were major

contributing factors.

But the centre's VCT coordinator, Bolaji Mokuolu, who is also HIV-positive, said

fear was another major obstacle to testing because many people were apprehensive

about their past sexual activities.

" Even some who eventually test negative are gripped by fear and sometimes break

down in tears until they know their status, " Mokuolu commented.

Nevertheless, he remarked, it was easier for him to counsel those who tested

positive.

" Since I am positive they tend to believe me when I say that being positive does

not mean they are going to die soon - they are able to relate to me better.

Anybody trained can be a counsellor but being positive has an advantage since

you will be speaking from personal experiences, " he pointed out.

CHEDCOM also runs a 'Care and Support' group that meets once a month, with a

nurse and volunteer doctor available to treat minor ailments and opportunistic

infections.

Funding for CHEDCOM's testing campaign will run out by December 2005, but

Sina-Falana is hoping to obtain further financial resources from businesses.

" There is still a lot that has to be done to curb the spread of the virus - it

is not enough for us to have created awareness, " Sina Falana said. " Until as

many people as possible come to know their status, our job is not yet done. "

[ENDS]

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