Integrate youths in HIV/AIDS response, says expert

The Acting Country Director of Population Council, an international non-governmental organization, Dr. Sylvia Adebajo has enjoined the federal government and other stakeholders to always engage youths and adolescence in all HIV/AIDS programmes concerning them. She made the call during the end of project dissemination of the Ford Foundation funded project on youth (aged 15-24) vulnerabilities […]

The Acting Country Director of Population Council, an international non-governmental organization, Dr. Sylvia Adebajo has enjoined the federal government and other stakeholders to always engage youths and adolescence in all HIV/AIDS programmes concerning them.
She made the call during the end of project dissemination of the Ford Foundation funded project on youth (aged 15-24) vulnerabilities and responses to HIV and AIDS in Abuja.
She said the adolescence and youth population in the country is so large that it cannot be ignored particularly in HIV/AIDS response as evidence has shown that HIV population in this category is high.
“We need to hear their voices because they actually know what they want. It is important that we engage adolescence and youth more in everything that we do, right from conception of ideas for programming to evaluation, and to the dissemination and implementation”, she said.
The expert also called for the training of health care providers in order  for them to understand issues that affect youths and adolescents and also make the health facilities youth friendly.
Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) Prof. John Idoko  said from the data available to the agency, the number of new HIV/AIDS infections is reducing annually adding that  that all that needs to be done now to eliminate the disease is for everyone to intensify efforts , examine how we work and use resources judiciously.