A Calidad Health Development Initiative, a civil society organization, has launched an entertainment education project for creating HIV/Aids awareness among youths in Kano.
The project, Edutainment Resisting Aids (ERA), sponsored by Population Council, NACA and UNICEF, is aimed at educating young people through entertainment so as to enhance peer to peer education and participation in HIV response.
Speaking at the event, the Deputy Director Prevention, Care and Control of Kano State Agency for the Control of Aids (SACA), Malam Aminu Ibrahim, said it was through partnership and collaboration with civil society organizations and other stakeholders the agency would be able to reach out to people in order to control the spread of the disease.
“We control through coordination in which all health facilities (tertiary, secondary and primary) are utilized whereby we train their personnel on how to conduct testing services and manage cases.
“We also have what we call Community Response in which religious and traditional leaders as well as key community members are involved in order to assist in creating awareness. We achieved best results through partnership and collaboration with CSOs such as the one we are witnessing today,” he said
The SACA official said their vision was to achieve 90/90/90 in which 90 per cent of Nigerians should know their HIV status, 90 per cent should have adequate treatment and 90 per cent of those receiving treatment should have their viral load suppressed.
Earlier, the convener of the programme, the Executive Director Calidad Health Development Initiative, Mr Akeukereke Ibrahim Ajibola, said the ERA project was aimed at using peer groups to educate and create awareness among their mates through entertainment so as to encourage adolescent youths participation in HIV/Aids response.
