Addressing Women vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
There are many young women and girls who suffer from different reproductive health problems including STIs and HIV/AIDS, and are left to fend for them-selves. The growing number of young women and girls who are infected or affected with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria is worrisome. Nowhere in the world has the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on women and girls been more pronounced than in Nigeria.
Nigeria has the second highest rates of people living with HIV/AIDS and 77% of them are women. Young women and girls are particularly affected: almost one half of all new infections worldwide occur among individuals between the ages of 15-24, and 62% of young people living with HIV/AIDS are women.
It is said that physiologically, women are twice more likely to contract HIV from men than the other way round. Moreover, it is true that social factors contribute to further vulnerability of HIV and AIDS among young women and girls. Fewer than one-third of young women aged 15-30 in Nigeria fully understand how to avoid HIV infection. Early marriage, sexual abuse, traditional attitudes which place women in a sub-ordinate position to men, low level of socio-economic status and education, and prevailing norms and culture are significantly responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS in rural part of Nigeria.
The widespread gender inequality and low status of young women and girls in the society restricts their ability to negotiate safer sex or to refuse sex. Domestic violence further puts the reproductive lives of many young women and girls in a difficult situation.
The most serious aspects of HIV and AIDS among young women and girls are increasing social discrimination and stigma in the rural communities. Despite several efforts of community-based HIV/AIDS prevention programme, people living with HIV/AIDS still face several challenges in accessing health care and social services. Most often, the infected and affected families are not accepted in the communities. They are discriminated in all aspects of social life, and many people have negative attitude towards young women and girls living with HIV/AIDS.
It is therefore vital, that Governments at all level should incorporate massive political and social mobilization to address gender inequality and sexual norms within our national, State and Local Government responses to HIV. Programmes must be grounded in a commitment to the protection of the human rights of girls and women, must seek to empower them to protect themselves from infection, and must meaningfully engage men as partners in the effort.
5th National Conference on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria provides another opportunity for all the Stakeholders, people living with HIV/AIDS, development partners, Government Agencies, etc to come together to review and proffer solution and way forward towards achieving Universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support, I therefore urge us to make sure that issues that make women vulnerable are properly addressed.
Nigeria has the second highest rates of people living with HIV/AIDS and 77% of them are women. Young women and girls are particularly affected: almost one half of all new infections worldwide occur among individuals between the ages of 15-24, and 62% of young people living with HIV/AIDS are women.
It is said that physiologically, women are twice more likely to contract HIV from men than the other way round. Moreover, it is true that social factors contribute to further vulnerability of HIV and AIDS among young women and girls. Fewer than one-third of young women aged 15-30 in Nigeria fully understand how to avoid HIV infection. Early marriage, sexual abuse, traditional attitudes which place women in a sub-ordinate position to men, low level of socio-economic status and education, and prevailing norms and culture are significantly responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS in rural part of Nigeria.
The widespread gender inequality and low status of young women and girls in the society restricts their ability to negotiate safer sex or to refuse sex. Domestic violence further puts the reproductive lives of many young women and girls in a difficult situation.
The most serious aspects of HIV and AIDS among young women and girls are increasing social discrimination and stigma in the rural communities. Despite several efforts of community-based HIV/AIDS prevention programme, people living with HIV/AIDS still face several challenges in accessing health care and social services. Most often, the infected and affected families are not accepted in the communities. They are discriminated in all aspects of social life, and many people have negative attitude towards young women and girls living with HIV/AIDS.
It is therefore vital, that Governments at all level should incorporate massive political and social mobilization to address gender inequality and sexual norms within our national, State and Local Government responses to HIV. Programmes must be grounded in a commitment to the protection of the human rights of girls and women, must seek to empower them to protect themselves from infection, and must meaningfully engage men as partners in the effort.
5th National Conference on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria provides another opportunity for all the Stakeholders, people living with HIV/AIDS, development partners, Government Agencies, etc to come together to review and proffer solution and way forward towards achieving Universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support, I therefore urge us to make sure that issues that make women vulnerable are properly addressed.
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