Stepping in against HIV stigma

Gift Alike, first child in a family of six children, might never have attended secondary school without help to pay her fees.Since she was selected while in JS2, she is in her final secondary school year—still on a scholarship funded by the charity Gede Foundation.Alike describes herself as among students in her community of Mpape […]

Gift Alike, first child in a family of six children, might never have attended secondary school without help to pay her fees.
Since she was selected while in JS2, she is in her final secondary school year—still on a scholarship funded by the charity Gede Foundation.
Alike describes herself as among students in her community of Mpape whose “parents are not well to do and could pay school fees.”
She is one of 75 students from 14 primary and secondary schools around Abuja still on the yearly scholarship—down from 105 students the programme started with in 2009.
“Communities are having to rethink,” says Godwin Etim, communications specialist at Gede.
“Before now, the burden of stigma was an issue. Now the communities want to be part and parcel of the programme.”
Stigma associated with HIV/AIDS commonly prevented young people from getting tested and getting access to treatment without parental consent.
An estimated 338,000 young people under age 15 were infected by the virus last year, according to a national HIV sentinel survey. The numbers have increased steadily from 2010.
Access to HIV services for young people, mostly restricted to youth-friendly centres, still leave many without help.
Last year, an estimated 2.5 million children under 15 years were orphaned by HIV/AIDs. While 1.5 million children lost their father, 1.9 million lost their mother.
Some 1.2 million children lost both parents, leaving them in care of other relatives—or no relations at all.
Social and religious structures help coordinators like Samuel Offiong identity orphaned and vulnerable children—with help from local pastors, imams, community leaders and school heads.
Offiong coordinates initial identification of orphans and vulnerable children in Mpape, Jikoko and Katampe before Gede steps in to screen children eligible for assistance.
The size of the communities mean “everyone knows who eats three square meals, whose children are not going to school,” says Offiong.
“When you step into the communities and ask, they come out.”
Some 35 children considered vulnerable were enrolled this year for community-based skills acquisition, slightly less than the annual target of 60 for the intervention.
Jethro Musa enrolled for carpentry and furniture work right in his home community of Jikoko.
With elderly parents unable to care for him, he wanted to “learn work so that I will help them,” he says.
“How will I continue to collect money from my mother instead of her collecting from me?” he reasons.
The end of his apprenticeship this December came with a gift of working implements to set up business.
Other trainees include 19 in hairdressing, two in welding, three in aluminium works and five in computing—each getting tools to start business and earn income.
“People even lie that they are orphans, because they want to be involved in the programme. The tables have turned,” says Etim, describing response from host communities.
“People who were formerly stigmatised are now championing issues of enterprise in their communities than people who are not orphans. They have started realising that the intervention can give room for orphans to start competing with their counterparts,” he added.