Strategies to Address the Impact of Hiv/Aids in Health, Education and Social Welfare Sectors
PREVENTATIVE STRATEGIES. These should be the main focus of all strategies.
VCT: VCT should be offered across the board to all categories of the population but especially to special groups such as commercial sex workers, TB/STI patients, prisoners, pregnant women, couples preparing for marriage and the sexually active youths(Federal government of Nigeria, 2003). It should be made compulsory for potential blood and organ donors.
Health promotion: There should be aggressive campaigns aimed at promoting abstinence before marriage, fidelity to sexual partner and removal of religious, cultural and systemic barriers to condom free access and consistent use. Traditional health care givers should be educated to avoid use of shared and unsterilized instruments for circumcisions, inscription of tribal marks and the various initiation ceremonies. Campaigns should be targeted at breaking some cultural practices that fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Women empowerment: There should be political will to enact and implement laws that will give women equal rights with men. This will include the right to education, right to be of consent- giving age before entering into any sexual or marital relationship of their own free choice, right to negotiate the terms and conditions of any such relation and right to refuse their use as gift items or sex toys by spouses, in-laws, boy/girl friends or guardians .
Youth focussed interventions : There should be youth focused interventions through the offering of friendly education and services on HIV prevention as well as VCT and management of STI/HIV/AIDS. HIVAIDS education should be introduced in the school curriculum starting from the primary school level. HIV related information, education and communication materials should be given to youths. HIV-related peer education should be delivered to the youths.
HIV in the work place: All work places of any reasonable size must be under obligation to develop and implement policies to address
VCT: VCT should be offered across the board to all categories of the population but especially to special groups such as commercial sex workers, TB/STI patients, prisoners, pregnant women, couples preparing for marriage and the sexually active youths(Federal government of Nigeria, 2003). It should be made compulsory for potential blood and organ donors.
Health promotion: There should be aggressive campaigns aimed at promoting abstinence before marriage, fidelity to sexual partner and removal of religious, cultural and systemic barriers to condom free access and consistent use. Traditional health care givers should be educated to avoid use of shared and unsterilized instruments for circumcisions, inscription of tribal marks and the various initiation ceremonies. Campaigns should be targeted at breaking some cultural practices that fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Women empowerment: There should be political will to enact and implement laws that will give women equal rights with men. This will include the right to education, right to be of consent- giving age before entering into any sexual or marital relationship of their own free choice, right to negotiate the terms and conditions of any such relation and right to refuse their use as gift items or sex toys by spouses, in-laws, boy/girl friends or guardians .
Youth focussed interventions : There should be youth focused interventions through the offering of friendly education and services on HIV prevention as well as VCT and management of STI/HIV/AIDS. HIVAIDS education should be introduced in the school curriculum starting from the primary school level. HIV related information, education and communication materials should be given to youths. HIV-related peer education should be delivered to the youths.
HIV in the work place: All work places of any reasonable size must be under obligation to develop and implement policies to address