WorldStage Newsonline– The National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) has described social media awareness as the most effective ways to fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) among adolescent group, the most difficult age groups to connect among the HIV population in Nigeria.
Director General of NACA, Dr. Gambo Aliyu who disclosed this at a workshop for social media influencers, journalists and bloggers oranganised by NACA in Abuja, said anyone who tested positive to the virus should call 6222 centre for guidance.
He noted that HIV is not a death sentence, but can be successfully managed, saying that by 2030 SDG expects countries around the world to fight HIV to a stop.
He said, “We want you to pass the message across as we expected. We want people to know that HIV even though it doesn’t have cure, but its something that no longer kills, and is one disease that you can manage and manage successfully.
“People have been living with this virus, now some for the last 30 years for more than 30 years, because HIV is more than 40 years. However, we want people to understand that fighting HIV begins with you.
“We have had opportunities to engage different population groups, the population groups that have been very difficult are adolescents and young persons. We believe social media influences have an edge, and will help us connect to this important population, the way we want to be connected with.”
He emphasised that the agency had been vigorous in its mass media advocacy to spread awareness of the disease “because the grassroots is a critical sector in the fight against the disease, but events have shown how potent and effective the social media is.
“And this is what we want. We want people to begin to demand for HIV services, instead of us going after people looking for them to get tested and looking for those that are HIV positive to come for treatment.
“Why this is important, because as we approach 2030, and we identify close to 100% of those that have the virus among us, the few, 3-4% may not be able to get them through our conventional way where we go out community after community to get people , we can only get that 3-4 percent if people develop the culture of demanding for the service.
“So we want people to demand for HIV service, to demand to know about the HIV status. And if they are HIV positive, we want to see people demanding for treatment services.”
In her welcome address, Head of Public Relation, NACA, Mrs. Toyin Aderibigbe, explained that the aim of the workshop was to solicit the support at achieving the “mission by being our advocates on social media and traditional media platforms in ending AIDS by the year 2030.
“We all know that social media has become an influential platform for shaping public opinion; it can play a crucial role in reducing the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus and combating stigma and discrimination by being equipped with adequate knowledge and understanding to help reduce the spread of fake news, misinformation and/or misconception on HIV/AIDS and other related diseases.
“Our aim for organizing this Workshop is to solicit your support at achieving this Mission by being our advocates on social media and traditional media platforms in ending AIDS by the year 2030. We believe this is doable. Please join us in fighting AIDS to finish in Nigeria.”
