Speaking on sexual behaviour amongst young people, AHF Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Coordinator, Dr. Kema Onu said the prevalence is more among people within the age of 15-24.
“The prevalence among this population has not changed. The data remains static. This means we need to reinforce strategies to curb the transmission rate among this group of people. Sexual experience is high, and you begin to ask how young or how old can a child be before you begin to sexually educate him or her.
“We are saying that it should start from the home. You demystify sex by calling penis by its name and vagina by its name. I believe that if a 13 year for instance is studying biology, and is beginning to understand human biology, he or she should also understand sexual relationship.
“We want to be realistic about the issues of HIV/AIDS. Let’s tell people the truth they need to know. Our responsibility as a foundation is to tell people the truth about the virus. In the current rate of the alarming data of people dying from HIV/AIDS, we need to be more realistic. Condom is the more realistic way of preventing this virus. We need to be frank about it. We also talk about abstinence. We need to reach out to the likely age group that are being targeted. People need to come out.
“More advocacy needs to carried out to this population. On this day we want to ensure the use in fight against AIDS. And all of us must be alert to our duties to ensure that we succeed in this fight.”
Dr. Onu, also expressed worry over the decline in funding for HIV/AIDS. He said more support needs to be given to ensure collective fight against the virus.
Also speaking, AHF State Nursing Coordinator, Christy Awonu, said the day is significant because many people use condom during this period more than any other.
“The theme means that it is never out of fashion to stop using condom and we all need to help in championing the advocacy and promote the use of condom. We are not encouraging youths to have sex but to help them if they can’t abstain.
“We are in six states and we believe that this event will help in stopping the spread of the virus. As you can see, we are also testing people aside just giving out condoms, so that people will know their status. We urge people to always come out for test so as to know their status.”
