Efforts at AIDS Education and Prevention in Nigeria
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National Public Radio (NPR); April 27, 2001 SHOW: MORNING EDITION
(11:00 AM on ET)
Efforts at AIDS Education and Prevention in Nigeria
BOB EDWARDS, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Bob Edwards.
More than a dozen African leaders are in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss
the many health crises facing the continent. Chief among them are tu-
berculosis and AIDS. Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sug-
gested a global fund of $ 7 billion to $ 10 billion annually to fight
AIDS in developing countries. Current spending total is about $ 1
billion annually. As for the host nation, Nigeria has so far been
spared the AIDS catastrophe spreading across eastern and southern Af-
rica, but experts warn that the country is at a turning point. NPR's
Ivan Watson reports from Lagos.
IVAN WATSON reporting:
A truck stop on the busy Bodagari Expressway(ph) outside Lagos, Af-
rica's most popular city.
(Soundbite from expressway)
Mr. FRANCIS AWAH(ph): I'm happy for to get this disease they call
HIV-AIDS.
WATSON: Several dozen truck drivers watch as Francis Awah yells into
a megaphone and points at his crotch. When Awah suddenly pulls out a
wooden dildo, straps it onto his belt and then demonstrates how to
put on a condom, the small crowd explodes into cheers. Awah is a peer
educator from the Society For Family Planning(ph). It's one of the
only organizations working on a nationwide level to educate Nigerians
about the threat of AIDS. Long-distance truckers are a primary focus
of AIDS prevention efforts in Africa, because they're more at risk at
both contracting and spreading the virus throughout the region. Judg-
ing from the questions from the crowd, today's lesson is generating
some much needed discussion.
Unidentified Man #1: (Foreign language spoken)
WATSON: One man asks whether you can contract the virus from kissing.
Another asks if he will be arrested if he ever tests positive for
HIV. And before the end of the session, one woman shows up to rail at
the AIDS instructors.
Unidentified Woman #1: No. There's no AIDS in Nigeria.
Unidentified Man #2: ...(Unintelligible).
Unidentified Woman #1: I said, there's nothing like that any (unin-
telligible) no. No.
WATSON: 'There's no AIDS in Nigeria,' she says. 'Nothing like that
here.' In fact, the latest survey published in 1999 showed that more
than 5 percent of pregnant women here were infected with HIV. In some
of Nigeria's 36 states, the infection rate was as high as 20 percent.
Stewart Parkinson of the Society For Family Planning says Nigeria is
at a crossroads.
Mr. STEWART PARKINSON (Society For Family Planning): Well, it's on
the edge. It's on the edge. The infection rates are still at the con-
centrated stage, but they're just about to make the next jump into
the generalized stage. And once the epidemic becomes generalized,
it's much, much harder to deal with. So there's still an opportunity
now to restrict HIV and to restrict the impact that it's having. We
haven't got that much time left.
WATSON: If nothing is done, Nigeria's 120 million people risk the
kind of AIDS explosion that has literally depopulated entire villages
in eastern and southern Africa. AIDS activists say that makes pre-
venting the spread of HIV a top priority here.
At the Society For Family Planning's laboratory, quality tester Oluti
Oyow(ph) explodes condoms all day long.
(Soundbite of condom exploding)
WATSON: In the factory, workers turn out 100,000 Golden Circle con-
doms a day. Sold at the heavily subsidized price of seven cents a
four-pack, these are the only condoms in the price range for average
Nigerians. Condom use has tripled in the past three years, a small
victory in the fight against AIDS.
(Soundbite of commercial)
Unidentified Man #3: Co--go with it.
Unidentified Woman #2: Condom.
Unidentified Man #3: Oh, you not trust me?
Unidentified Woman #2: Nobody trust...
WATSON: But last February, this non-profit program suffered a setback
when Nigeria's advertising association pulled a national radio cam-
paign about AIDS off the air, saying the commercials were too
graphic. AIDS activists point to another defeat, the case of Geor-
gianna Ahamafulla(ph). Ahamafulla was pregnant when she was fired
from her nursing position at a hospital five years ago after testing
HIV-positive. She was subsequently denied treatment after suffering a
miscarriage. When human rights lawyers brought Ahamafulla's case to
court last February, the judge ruled she could not testify. Judge
C.O. Olufalou(ph) first wanted proof that an AIDS patient would not
infect other people in the courtroom. Lawyer Felix Morka(ph) repre-
sents Ahamafulla.
Mr. FELIX MORKA (Attorney): It's really very frustrating, but it's
also very revealing of the level of abysmal ignorance and, you know,
lack of preparation to tackle this problem and, you know, even at
that high level. If a judge can exhibit such extreme ignorance and
prejudice against someone living with HIV/AIDS, you can imagine what
his position would be at very low levels.
WATSON: Misinformation about AIDS continues to crop up at government
levels, even as Nigeria hosts a Pan-African summit on the epidemic.
In recent weeks, a Nigerian state parliament passed a bill approving
a spiritual cure for AIDS. The cure involves spreading Vaseline and
honey all over the patient's skin and then reading verses from the
Koran.
Ivan Watson, NPR News, Lagos
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